New potential treatment for ischemic stroke

A normal saline bolus administered to ischemic stroke patients within 96 hours of stroke onset produces increase in cerebral blood flow (CBF) in these patients. This is the result from a collaborative work from our group with two other groups at the University of Pennsylvania that was recently published on the Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases.

In this work we employed Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy (DCS), a noninvasive optical technique, to monitor CBF during a potential treatment based on a 30-minute infusion of 500 cc normal saline (NS) bolus in ischemic stroke patients. During the acute phase, the main goal of care is to increase CBF in the region around the affected stroke. Among 57 patients, we found that the NS bolus increased CBF in the injured hemisphere by up to 43%.

To read more about this study, click HERE.

Full Reference:

M.T. Mullen, A.B. Parthasarathy, A. Zandieh, W.B. Baker, R.C. Mesquita, C. Loomis, J. Torres, W. Guo, C.G. Favilla, S.R. Messi, A.G. Yodh, J.A. Detre, S.E. Kasner, Cerebral blood flow response during bolus normal saline infusion after ischemic stroke, J. Stroke Cerebrovasc. Dis. 28(11), 104294 (2019).