Every year, the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association sponsors the country’s largest and most important stroke conference, the International Stroke Conference. This year’s conference was in February and held in Houston, Texas. More than 4,500 physicians, nurses, researchers and program administrators gathered to learn and discuss the latest stroke research.
Here are some highlights of interest to stroke survivors:
- In this country, the risk of death by stroke is going down, however the risk of having a stroke is going up—likely because the population is aging
- The elderly may not need as low blood pressure as the young or middle-aged, however there aren’t good trials or other data on this
- The use of the drug Nimodpine in cognitive impairment did not appear to help very much
- Some evidence that using the drug Cilostozol, instead of aspirin, after hemorrhage is safe
- Interesting look at whether or not it lowers stroke risk to close a patent foramen ovale (PFO), a hole in the heart that didn’t close the way it should after birth
- Post-stroke anger is experienced in up to 1/3 of stroke survivors—anti-depressants can help with this
- Implementing the newest guidelines for intervention across different communities comes with pitfalls
Find more information on the AHA/ASA website.
