22 years after ‘groundbreaking’ trial, clot-busting stroke drug remains controversial
A vocal minority who are opposed to using tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) for treating strokes is contributing to fewer patients receiving the clot-busting drug, the New York Times reported.
Twenty-two years after a clinical trial showed strong evidence TPA could significantly reduce the disability from stroke—and despite it being endorsed in American Heart Association/American Stroke Association guidelines—up to 30 percent of ideal candidates for the time-sensitive treatment don’t receive it, according to the newspaper.
Skeptics point to the increased risk for cerebral hemorrhage after TPA administration and say the trials demonstrating its value were flawed.
In a cruel twist, the principal investigator of the initial groundbreaking trial, Christopher Lewandowski, MD, was unable to convince an emergency room doctor to give TPA to his father after a stroke.
“He told my mom that he doesn’t believe in the drug and he is not giving it. He doesn’t care who I am,” Lewandowski told the Times.
His father had a moderately disabling stroke, scoring 7 on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, and survived a few more years, but Lewandowski still regrets that he never received TPA.
“It was very difficult for me personally,” he said. “I had spent so much of my professional life working on this treatment. It actually worked. I felt like I let my dad down.”
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Daniel joined TriMed’s Chicago editorial team in 2017 as a Cardiovascular Business writer. He previously worked as a writer for daily newspapers in North Dakota and Indiana.