Imaging technique improves outcomes for many stroke patients
Illustration by Jonathon Rosen
Dec 6 2021
By Hanae Armitage
For many years, physicians believed they had less than six hours after a stroke began to prevent a patient's brain cells from dying and to save the patient from death or disability.
But, from the beginning of his career, Gregory Albers, MD, professor of neurology and neurosurgery, questioned this conventional wisdom. Over the course of three decades, he and a team of Stanford Medicine researchers tested and perfected a new imaging technique that would ultimately expand the window of time for safely restoring blood flow in a stroke patient's brain.
In "Opening stroke's window," a story in the latest issue of Stanford Medicine magazine, Albers' journey to help treat more stroke patients unfurls, highlighting how just a few hours can make a big difference to patients' lives.
"It was a huge challenge," Albers said of his quest to improve outcomes for stroke patients. "We were dealing with the No. 1 cause of disability worldwide, and there was no treatment."
