Dr Malik is keen on Acute Stroke Intervention to treat the unfortunate patient who suffers a blocked artery in the brain. Many trials now say that sucking out the clot is worth it. See this video where the issues are discussed. It is a discussion for doctors, but the bottom lines are:
- A lot of cardiologists are trained in doing complex heart procedures. A smaller number of neurointerventional radiologists are trained in stroke procedures. The best way of getting as many patients as possible the best treatment possible is to work together. That is not happening in the UK yet; let’s keep pushing to ensure that there is no “territorialism”.
- Clot busting drugs will probably be moving out of favour and the invasive approach will move forwards, without giving any of these drugs.
There is much work to do. We need to do the best for the patients.