Scots lead cash bid in radical stroke therapy

Studies have suggested that cooling the brain of patients who have suffered a stroke can boost survival and reduce the risk of long-term disability.

Now researchers want to launch a large Europe-wide trial to prove the effectiveness of the technique, but need EU funding to get it started.

Today Dr Malcolm Macleod, head of experimental neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh, will make an appeal for the trial to be launched, saying it could improve the outcome for 40,000 stroke patients a year across Europe.

Therapeutic hypothermia - or cooling - is already used to reduce brain injury after cardiac arrest or injuries suffered during birth.

It works by inducing a kind of hibernation in the brain, reducing the need for oxygen and preventing further damage.

Proposals for a trial of the technique, involving 21 countries across Europe including the UK, Spain, France and Italy, will be set out at a meeting in Brussels today.

"Stroke is a major killer," Dr Macleod said.

"Every day 1,000 Europeans die from stroke - that's one every 90 seconds - and about twice that number survive but are disabled.

"Our estimates are that hypothermia might improve the outcome for more than 40,000 Europeans every year.

"The preliminary evidence is all there - now it is time for Europe to act."

The European Stroke Research Network for Hypothermia, which has been trying to organise a major trial, has brought together experts from universities including Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as teams situated in Germany and Finland.

They will highlight the need for funding to carry out the trial at today's meeting.

Professor Stefan Schwab, from the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nrnberg in Germany, said: "We know the financial situation is difficult, but based on current evidence the personal and economic benefits of avoiding stroke-related death and disability means that the trial would pay for itself in less than a year.

"As the population ages this trial will become even more important, and a benefit of cooling demonstrated in the proposed study will set the stage for future studies with hypothermia, extending the eligibility of the treatment to even greater number of patients."

Elspeth McAusland, spokeswoman for UK charity the Stroke Association said: "We know that around 13,000 people have a stroke each year in Scotland and it's the third most common cause of death.

"This type of therapeutic cooling is already used in other conditions, so it would be interesting to see whether a larger trial shows it's effective in treating stroke.

"It's imperative that we continue to invest in medical research so that new interventions can be found to help reduce the number of people dying and being left disabled because of a stroke."