Health & Fitness - New technique may reverse stroke

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New technique may reverse stroke

MAYWOOD, Ill. (UPI) -- A new technique that jumpstarts the growth of nerve fibers may have the potential to restore function to patients weeks after a stroke, U.S. researchers said.

Dr. Gwendolyn Kartje of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood, Ill., said if a stroke patient doesn't get treatment within approximately the first three hours of symptoms, there's not much doctors can do to limit damage to the brain.

"In the best-case scenario, this would open up the window of time that people could recover and go back to normal functional status," Kartje said in a statement.

Anti nogo -- a protein that inhibits the growth of nerve fibers called axons -- "offers the potential for stroke patients to recover, return to nearly normal functional status, and stay out of nursing homes."

A stroke on the left side of the brain can cause paralysis on the right side of the body. In such a patient, anti-nogo therapy would, it's hoped, spur the growth of axons from the healthy right side of the brain.

These axons would then grow into the right side of the body and restore functions lost by the stroke.

The findings are published in the journal Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 08/26/2008

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Posted Comments:

09-27-2008 18:10

browntbdd wrote:

3 year ago stroke

Have you found any of this or ANYTHING that can help a victim from 3 years ago ?

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08-29-2008 12:53

Bobby Davis wrote:

anti-nogo for strokes

Can this therapy help people who had a stroke more then a year ago and who can get around but moves slow I guess not what you would call paralysis. And how much would something like this cost?

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08-29-2008 10:08

Dr. Gwendolyn Kartje wrote:

New technique may reverse stroke

How, if anti-nogo protein INHIBITS nerve axon growth, can it be used in a therapy to increase or promote the growth of nerve axons?

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