A new European study which aims to extend the benefits of mechanical thrombectomy to a wider group of patients has recently been launched.

Tuesday, 10th April 2018

Thrombectomy is a treatment for certain types of stroke and involves the use of very small devices to break up and remove the clot from the brain. This procedure is carried out by highly skilled doctors in a hospital setting.

Recent thrombectomy trials have shown that if used in stroke patients with small brain lesions, the procedure significantly reduces the level of post-stroke disability by restoring blood flow and limiting brain damage.

The new study, part of the EU funded TENSION project, will examine the effects of mechanical clot retrieval in a larger group of patients in whom the benefit of thrombectomy is uncertain.

TENSION will study if it is safe and effective to do thrombectomy in patients with so-called ‘extended lesions’, that is, larger areas of damaged brain when compared to the previous studies.

Patients will also be able to enrol in the trial up to 12 hours after their symptoms first showed. This will extend the treatment to a larger group of patients: including, those who had a stroke during the night- and are more likely to be delayed in getting to hospital.

TENSION will include the patient perspective on the evaluation of the outcome of the trial and its treatment effects. Importantly, the trial will also provide evidence for the socio-economic benefits of increasing the use of mechanical thrombectomy.

The trial will enrol up to 714 patients in eight European countries and the project will run for five years from February 2018. TENSION is co-ordinated by Professor Götz Thomalla of the Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf in Hamburg and Professor Martin Bendszus of the Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg and has received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 programme.

Professor Thomalla said, “TENSION addresses a major health problem and will provide evidence for an effective therapeutic intervention for patients with severe stroke. This means we will get better individual patient outcomes and avoid stroke-related disability in a large number of patients. At the societal level, the new treatment will help in reducing stroke-related costs.”

For more information, please contact research@safestroke.eu.