News &
Updates

Grampians Health’s Consultant Neurologist and Associate Professor Dr Ramesh Sahathevan is hoping to bring about a major shift in how strokes are treated.

Dr Sahathevan is the local Principal Investigator at Grampians Health for a multicenter study to investigate the effectiveness and safety of a new anticoagulant after a stroke.

A stroke is sudden damage which occurs to one part of the brain as a result of an interruption in the flow of blood and nutrients with a blood clot, or following a bleed in the brain.

In both cases, when the brain cells involved in the stroke are damaged or die, the body parts controlled by those cells don’t work properly. The resulting loss of function may be mild or severe, temporary or permanent. This depends on where and to what extent the brain is damaged and on how quickly the blood supply to the affected cells is restored.

An important part of stroke prevention after an ischaemic stroke is lowering the risk of blood clots forming. To do this, doctors will prescribe medication that help prevent blood clots forming.

This particular study will test new anticoagulant medication in people who have suffered an acute non-cardioembolic ischemic stroke or high-risk transient ischaemic attack (TIA).

Dr Sahathevan is excited by what this trial will mean for both patients and medical professionals.

“For patients it hopefully means better outcome and recovery. For medical practitioners it means we have more medications to treat patients,” he said.

“The great thing about this trial is that it will result in a major shift in how we treat ischemic stroke.”

This new anticoagulant will help prevent blood clots from forming, reducing the risk of further clots in patients.

“Clinical trials like this allow us to determine if new medications and intervention can be used to treat specific conditions,” Dr Sahathevan said.

Dr Sahathevan is currently recruiting patients to take part in this new trial and is looking forward to seeing the results of this trial over time.