New findings suggest a stroke could be treated by paramedics before patients even reach the hospital.
Researchers administered magnesium sulfate early-on and found that, while it did not improve the outcome of the stroke patients, it did demonstrate the potential for early therapy in the ambulance, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke reported.
"This study shows that it is possible to get treatments to stroke patients even before they arrive at a hospital. Because a blocked blood vessel causes brain damage over minutes to hours this pre-hospital approach to treatment is sure to be adopted and refined in future clinical research studies. Ultra-early brain salvage in stroke patients will someday surely reduce the tremendous burden of disability and death due to stroke," said Walter Koroshetz, M.D., acting director of NINDS.
The Field Administration of Stroke Therapy-Magnesium (FAST-MAG) Phase 3 Trial looked at 1,700 patients who were suspected of having a stroke and were given either magnesium sulfate or a placebo by paramedics within two hours of onset.
The study's results suggest patients were able to receive a study drug faster than in other stroke trials and 74.3 percent of patients received an intervention within an hour of their stroke's onset.
"The most important finding of this study was that medication could be delivered within the 'golden hour' of first onset of stroke symptoms when there is the greatest amount of brain to save. That means the prehospital paramedic delivery of drug system that was developed in FASTMAG could become a platform for testing additional drugs and devices in the future," said Jeffrey Saver, M.D., director of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Comprehensive Stroke Center.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
