American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2007
The American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2007 took place in San Francisco on Feb. 7-9. The meeting highlighted innovative ways to teach consumers the warning signs of stroke, including a child-friendly rap called 'Brain Attack' and a program designed for delivery by hairstylists in an effort to reach black patients during visits to local hair salons.
"There has been some progress in acute stroke care recognition," said Daniel T. Lackland, Ph.D., of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. "Stroke symptoms are more recognizable than they were two or three years ago, but these numbers are still very low, so we still have a long way to go," he added. "We are seeing some promising stories about getting the word out including programs at beauty shops in African American communities and other non-traditional means to translate information into the community."
Along with better recognition of the signs and symptoms of stroke, the meeting also highlighted advances in treatment. "Some really neat surgical techniques are being developed where doctors remove the clot with coil," he said. "This new technique seems to be one that can be utilized by both surgeons and neurologists."
Improvements in the rehabilitation of stroke patients were also prominently featured at the meeting. "We are seeing more robotics and that is exciting and promising because you can almost do it from home," he noted.
But "prevention is clearly the way that we want to go and we are just not treating risk factors at the level we should be," he said. "We are seeing some very good diagnostic and acute treatment strategies; however, the traditional risk factors of hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes continue to be major risks for stroke and we have not successfully brought them under control." For example, one study found that many diabetics who experience an acute stroke have high rates of risk factors such as obesity and hypertension that are known to increase the risk of stroke, despite guidelines that recommend reducing such factors.
Larry Goldstein, M.D., of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., chair of the leadership committee of the stroke council of the American Heart Association, adds that "this is by far and away the largest meeting for stroke held in the world. It covers a very broad range of topics related to stroke from basic science to prevention and acute intervention as well as clinical aspects and the delivery of health care."
That's why, Goldstein said, "this meeting is always exciting."
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