With 700,000 Americans suffering from strokes each year (and over 150,000 dying from them), doctors are continuously researching new ways to clear brain clots. Strokes generally occur when the blood vessels feeding the brain become blocked, which deprives brain cells of oxygen until they die.

For those who suffer a stroke, the clot-eliminating drug TPA is one of their only options, and must be used within three hours of the first symptoms. Still, less than five percent of stroke victims can get this care because it is not recognized in time (if only we had the crew from Disney’s Fantastic Voyage to help us out).

Enter Penumbra, which is a new treatment that can be used because patients missed out on early health-care; it can be tried eight hours within a stroke’s first symptoms. Specialist thread a tiny tube inside a blood vessel and the groin and scale it up the body until it reaches the clot in the brain. Like a tiny vacuum cleaner, it sucks up the clot bit by bit, restoring blood flow to the brain. This treatment actually causes a much better recovery.

While Penumbra is a breakthrough in helping treat clots at a later stage, it still may not help stroke victims whose stroke is too severe. “Is the patient at a stage of stroke where you’re going to hurt them by pulling a clot out, or show benefit?” asks Dr. Walter Koroshetz of the National Institutes of Health. “Your ability to succeed with taking the clot out depends on what’s going on in the brain.”

Still, Penumbra shows great promise with patients who suffer from brain clots. Take 45-year-old Aretha Streeter, who suffered a stroke in the hospital she worked at. Even after being treated with TPA, her left side still remained paralyzed an hour later. Her brain was scanned and spotted a key artery that was completely blocked. She agreed to the new Penumbra treatment. During the procedure, she began moving more and more as the clot was suctioned out. Streeter was walking the next day, and was left with weakness in her arm instead of paralysis in a side of her body.

So, for patients, early detection plays a big part in being able to recover from a stroke. Call 911 as soon as symptoms begin, which include sudden numbness or weakness (usually one one side of the body), confusion, trouble speaking or walking, or an abrupt (and terrible) headache.

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