Health News Archive
05/06/2009
'Too few patients have stroke surgery'
Many people at risk of a major stroke are not getting potentially life-saving operations quickly enough, according to new research.
A study carried out by St George's University of London has claimed that many people who have suffered so-called mini-strokes are not being given artery surgery as quickly as they could be and are therefore being put at risk of suffering a major stroke.
The surgery should be carried out within two weeks of a patient suffering the mini-strokes, but the researchers found that in their sample group of 5,500, this only happened in around a fifth of cases.
The experts warned that many patients are being put at risk by the failure, which they put down to slow diagnosis and bad organisation of hospital services.
"We urge all parts of the health service to make the changes needed to prevent thousands of people from having a stroke in the coming year," a spokesperson for the Stroke Association told the BBC.
A physiotherapy lecturer from St George's recently won the Stroke Association excellence in stroke care award for her efforts to help tackle the effects of stroke on patients.
© Adfero Ltd. This news story was brought to you by Boehringer Ingelheim.
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