Embargoed for release 4:50 p.m. EDT Aug. 16, 1997
Combination of blood test and ultrasound a better predictor of stroke
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- A combination of a blood test and ultrasound could give physicians a better picture of who is at risk of a fatal or disabling stroke, researchers in Denmark reported today (Aug. 16).
This new method of assessing stroke risk is significant because more than 85 percent of all strokes come without any warning signs.
Dr. Marie-Louise Gronholdt of the University Hospital of Copenhagen presented the results of research by her and others at International Neurology '97, an international medical conference in Winston-Salem, N.C., to review the latest use of ultrasound on the brain. The conference is sponsored by the World Federation of Neurology and the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University
The researchers studied the carotid arteries, which supply blood to the brain. These arteries are prone to collect a plaque of fat, calcium deposits and blood clotting materials on the inner lining. Stroke occurs when a piece of the plaque breaks off and lodges in a smaller blood vessel, shutting off the supply of blood to that part of the brain. Stroke also can occur if the carotid itself is completely blocked.
Gronholdt and the others studied the content of the lipoproteins in the blood of 137 patients to determine if there is any correlation between lipoprotein content and plaque type (as determined by computer-assisted analysis of ultrasound images). They found that people whose lipoproteins were rich in both triglycerides and cholesterol had plaques that are most likely to rupture. (Lipoproteins are a mixture of cholesterol and triglycerides.)
About 500,000 Americans suffer a stroke each year. About 150,000 of these strokes are fatal and a third are permanently disabling, making stroke the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of disability in the United States.
Gronholdt said this research could give doctors a new way to identify who is at risk of stroke. If a simple blood test revealed lipoproteins rich in triglycerides, the doctor would know to order an ultrasound analysis of the carotid arteries to see if the patient has dangerous plaques building up.
A combination of computer-assisted analysis of ultrasound images and blood tests might in the future give doctors the means to determine who should have an operation to remove dangerous plaques before a fatal or disabling stroke, "especially because most strokes happen without warning," Gronholdt said.
The research could also change the protocols for deciding when to operate to remove plaque, Gronholdt said.
"The criteria right now is only the degree of stenosis (blockage). For example, in the United States, they operate mostly on those with over 60 percent stenosis. But in Denmark, we tend to operate only beyond 70 percent, and it could be that this would be another criteria for deciding which of those with 60 percent should be operated on and which should not." #
For further information, call Mark Wright (email: [email protected]) or Bob Conn (email: [email protected]) at 910-716-4587. Once International Neurosonology '97 has begun on August 13, call the conference press room at 910-724-6923.
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