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Clot-buster more likely to work in women-study

Posted on: Friday, 15 July 2005, 11:31 CDT

By Megan Rauscher

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women suffering a sudden "ischemic" stroke caused by a blood clot in the brain are more likely than men to be helped from treatment with a commonly used clot-buster called tPA (tissue plasminogen activator), a study has shown.

Past studies have shown that women are less likely to receive tPA than men and that women, in general, have a worse outcome after stroke than men. "Our study," Dr. Magdy Selim said, "suggests that women should be treated as they may respond better to this treatment."

Ischemic stroke, the most common type, occurs when a clot or blocked artery cuts off blood flow to the brain. Clot-busters such as tPA, if given intravenously within 3 hours of the start of a stroke, can reduce or even prevent the long-term complications of an ischemic stroke.

Among 22 men and 17 women with this type of stroke who received early intravenous tPA in the current study, blood flow was restored in 94 percent of the women compared with just 59 percent of the men, investigators report in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

The superior response to tPA seen in women held up in analyzes adjusted for potentially confounding factors, Selim, from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and colleagues note in the paper.

"This is the first study to show a biological difference in response to tPA between men and women," Selim told Reuters Health. "This could be due to anatomical, hormonal or chemical differences between the sexes, which we will be investigating."

The findings, if confirmed in larger studies, could prompt changes in the way this type of stroke is treated in men, the researcher added. It may result in using higher doses of tPA or encouraging a more aggressive treatment in men, Selim explained.

SOURCE: Stroke July 2005.

Source: REUTERS

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