The NHS is now offering a blood test that can help avoid a second stroke in stroke sufferers, a move that experts say will save lives.
The test detects genetic markers that indicate whether a patient will respond to traditional treatment, allowing physicians to switch them to more successful medications.
According to experts, approximately 25,000 Britons fall into this category; yet, it was previously impossible to identify them.
Genetic testing for stroke patients will save lives, according to Dr. Alex Doney, a stroke expert at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, the first NHS facility in the UK to provide the test.
‘For years, we’ve used a one-size-fits-all approach to treating stroke victims, meaning that people with vastly diverse genetic makeups receive the same pharmacological dosage. Yet, we are aware that, for many patients, existing medications are no more effective than a placebo.’
The UK’s health authority, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), is evaluating the test for wider use. Currently, the test is utilized in 33 NHS hospitals in Scotland.
There are around 1,300,000 stroke survivors in the UK. The most prevalent cause of impairment, the attacks occurs when the brain’s blood supply is compromised.
There are two variations. The most frequent type of stroke is caused by a blood clot that obstructs blood flow to the brain. They account for approximately nine out of ten strokes.
It costs £22 per patient and is performed only minutes after patients arrive at the hospital and clots are found. A laboratory analyses samples and returns results within a week. Patients with the genetic mutation are provided equally effective alternative blood-thinning medications, such as dipyridamole.
The science of tailoring pharmaceuticals to a patient’s genetic profile is known as pharmacogenomics, and scientists believe it has the potential to have a significant impact in numerous medical fields.
Dr. Doney states, “This is the initial step toward a much broader application of this type of precision medicine.” It is no longer an issue of whether we should employ genetic tests to enhance healthcare, but rather how we should apply them because the technology is now so advanced and inexpensive.
After suffering a stroke in May, Ronald Chimiak, 68, from Dundee was one of the first patients in the United Kingdom to undergo the DNA test. It left the grandpa of three unable to move his left arm, with slurred speech and the left half of his face drooping. He states, “I know a few folks who have suffered strokes, and they have never been the same.” I was concerned about continuing on the same path.
The part-time church volunteer was given a DNA test in the hospital, which confirmed that he would not respond to clopidogrel. Therefore, he has been prescribed the anti-platelet medication ticagrelor and is currently on the road to recovery.
He states, “My arm movement has restored to normal, my speech has returned, and the droop on my face has vanished.” If you looked at me, you would have never guessed I had a stroke.
After treating a female patient in a Californian hospital, medical personnel began to faint, choke, and experience muscle spasms. The patient became known as “the toxic lady.”
Gloria Ramirez passed away due to cervical cancer, but not before 28 employees became ill.
She self-medicated with dimethyl sulfoxide, a solvent used in pain-relieving creams, according to an investigation.
It was assumed that the solvent combined with oxygen and the electric-shock treatment administered to Ramirez, produced a toxic gas known as dimethyl sulfate, and that the personnel inhaled this gas, causing their distressing symptoms.
