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Could an algorithm help treat bleeding strokes?
March 2, 2016
Intracerebral hemorrhages, or bleeding strokes, kill approximately 500 people in Ontario each year. One in three victims are still bleeding when they arrive at the hospital and could potentially be helped by experimental drugs that promote blood clotting. However, if the bleeding has already stopped, these drugs can do more harm than good. Dr. Dar Dowlatshahi is leading an international team in developing a mathematical algorithm to determine which patients are likely still bleeding. This stems from his recent paper, published in Stroke, which found that CT scanning alone is not accurate enough. The group is now looking at combining CT scan results with other tests and patient characteristics to come up with a risk score that can better identify bleeding patients.
Authors : Dar Dowlatshahi, H. Bart Brouwers, Andrew M. Demchuk, Michael D. Hill, Richard I. Aviv, Lee-Anne Ufholz, Michael Reaume, Max Wintermark, J. Claude Hemphill III, Yasuo Murai, Yongjun Wang, Xingquan Zhao, Yilong Wang, Na Li, Takatoshi Sorimachi, Mitsunori Matsumae, Thorsten Steiner, Timolaos Rizos, Steven M. Greenberg, Javier M. Romero, Jonathan Rosand, Joshua N. Goldstein, and Mukul Sharma.
Funders : Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada, Heart and Stroke Foundation (Alberta/NWT/NU), Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Alberta Innovates Health Solutions, University of Ottawa Department of Medicine, National Institutes of Health—National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
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