University of Cincinnati gets $12.7M NIH grant for ischemic stroke study

The University of Cincinnati has received a $12.7 million federal grant to continue a study that compares treatment approaches for acute ischemic stroke.

The study, which began in 2005, compares two methods of treatment for ischemic stroke, which occurs when an artery to the brain is blocked. Both treatment approaches involve the clot-busting drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which to have effect must be administered intravenously within three hours of stroke onset.

The first stroke-treatment approach involved in the study involves the administration of tPA alone. The second involves using the drug plus either a mechanical clot-busting device or tPA delivered directly to the site of the arterial blockage with a catheter, according to a statement from the University of Cincinnati (UC).

“While some of these intra-arterial devices are being used as part of standard practice in many hospitals worldwide, we still don’t know whether or not the combination of IV tPA and the devices improves patient outcomes better than IV tPA alone,” said Dr. Joseph Broderick, principal investigator for the trial and chair of neurology at the UC College of Medicine.

UC originally received a $17.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for the trial. The new grant will fund the trial into 2015, according to the statement.

Researchers’ goal for the study is to enroll 900 patients across the globe. So far they’ve enrolled 571.