Brussels, 25/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - A group of scientist from the EuroHYP network met in Brussels on 24 January to discuss the latest scientific evidence on strokes which suggests that cooling patients might improve survival rates and also reduce the risk of long-term disability. The scientists are now calling for a major international, multicentre phase III clinical trial that has the potential to bring tangible benefits to patients and society within a short timeframe, but which will require EU funding to help get it off the ground. Their conclusions are contained in a report, The use of therapeutic cooling to improve survival rates - proposal for a trial, issued at the conference in Brussels.
“Stroke is a major killer,” said Dr Malcolm MacLeod, Reader and Head of Experimental Neuroscience at the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh and Chief Investigator of HAIST, a pilot study of therapeutic hypothermia in acute ischemic stroke. Every day, 1,000 Europeans die from stroke - one person every 90 seconds. About twice that number survive but are disabled. There are huge differences, however, between the countries of Eastern and Central Europe (the highest levels of death from stroke are in Bulgaria, Romania, the Baltic States, Hungary and Slovenia) and those of Western Europe where mortality levels are up to five times lower (with France and Netherlands having the best survival rates).
Therapeutic hypothermia, or cooling, is already used effectively in reducing ischemic brain injury following cardiac arrest and birth injuries. It acts by inducing a kind of hibernation in the brain, reducing the need for oxygen and preventing further damage. The technique is being watched attentively by the European Space Agency because of its possible applications for the future of long-distance space travel.
EuroHYP, in collaboration with the clinical trial units of universities, including Copenhagen/Malmø, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Utrecht, Erlangen and Helsinki, has become a driving force behind an international consortium that is bringing together the expertise and synergies essential for the large-scale trial. Project promoters expect the number of participating hospitals to be around 80 in total, from 21 European countries: Germany, Italy, UK, France, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Croatia, Belgium, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal and Turkey. (O.J./transl.rt)