Dr. Ayman Hassan still thinks about his past stroke patients who have been left with disabilities, wondering if more time to get them a specialized treatment would have improved their quality of life. But current Canadian guidelines say an endovascular thrombectomy can only be performed within six hours of the patient's stroke. They performed surgery to reduce the pressure on the patient's brain and saved her life, but she was left with disability. Patients like her, he said, could benefit from a change the Heart and Stroke Foundation is making in its stroke treatment guidelines, extending the window for endovascular thrombectomy from six hours to 24 hours. If you see someone showing signs of stroke, call 911 for an ambulance, the Heart and Stroke Foundation says.

Source: CBC News February 02, 2018 09:00 UTC