TWO HOURS TO SAVE A LIFE
Stroke study funded
BY AMY WADDELL
UCLA Today
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $16-million grant to
a multihospital effort led by the UCLA Stroke Center to perform a pivotal
trial of a new therapy for acute stroke.
The trial will examine if magnesium sulfate can protect the threatened
brain when administered to stroke victims by paramedics within the first
two hours of stroke onset. Magnesium sulfate works by dilating brain blood
vessels and by preventing buildup of damaging calcium in injured nerve
cells.
The NIH-funded Field Administration of Stroke Therapy-Magnesium (FAST-MAG)
trial is the first large-scale trial of neuroprotective therapy delivery
to stroke patients in ambulances.
“Time is of the essence in treating acute stroke,” said
Jeffrey Saver, study principal investigator and professor of neurology
at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “By utilizing paramedics
to deliver a brain-protecting agent for the first time ever in a large
trial, we hope to pioneer a new, more successful era in stroke therapy.”
The grant will be awarded over the next four years with UCLA Medical
Center serving as the clinical coordinating center. The groundbreaking
trial will be conducted at up to 80 hospitals in Los Angeles County and
include 1,298 stroke patients who will be randomized to receive magnesium
sulfate or a placebo.
The initial pilot study, conducted from May 2000 to January 2002, showed
promising results — that paramedics in the field initiated the drug
much more quickly compared to the usual approach of waiting until the
patient was in the hospital, and that patients tended to make a better
recovery.
“The pilot trial showed that paramedics can recognize stroke accurately
and safely start magnesium sulfate in the field,” said Marc Eckstein,
medical director of the Los Angeles Fire Department and co-principal investigator
for the study. “Now we need to perform the large pivotal trial to
determine definitively if early magnesium sulfate improves patient outcome.”
The UCLA Stroke Center is recognized globally as a leader in the treatment
of stroke and is committed to research and advancements in stroke therapy.
For more information on the UCLA Stroke Center with links to information
about stroke signs and prevention, visit www.stroke.ucla.edu. |
