Wednesday, August 27, 2008

New Hope For Stroke Patients: Reversing Stroke Damage By Jumpstarting Growth Of Nerve Fibers

ScienceDaily (Aug. 25, 2008) — If a stroke patient doesn't get treatment within approximately the first three hours of symptoms, there's not much doctors can do to limit damage to the brain.

But now researchers report a technique that potentially could restore functions to patients weeks or even months after a stroke. The technique involves jumpstarting the growth of nerve fibers to compensate for brain cells destroyed by the stroke.

"In the best-case scenario, this would open up the window of time that people could recover and go back to normal functional status," said Gwendolyn Kartje, MD, Ph.D., a professor in the department of cell biology, neurobiology and anatomy and department of neurology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood, Ill. and chief of neuroscience research at Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Hines, Ill.

Kartje and colleagues described the experimental approach, called anti-nogo-A immunotherapy, in a recent review article in the journal Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation...
To read the entire article click HERE.

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