Brain Cooling as a Potential Treatment for Stroke
Stroke contributes highly to the number of deaths and disability worldwide, current treatments are to treat the source of the clot or to administer treatment for a Hemorrahagic stroke but still the rates of unrecoverable brain damage occurring is high. However new research is being carried out into the effectiveness of Brain cooling as a potential procedure. Will this treatment be worthwhile and more effective than the current treatments?
The Problem
Every year approximately 150,000 people in the UK suffer a Stroke [6]. It is the cause of 53,000 deaths in the UK alone [6] and is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide [1].
A stroke occurs when the flow of blood to the brain is prevented or highly restricted. The most common cause of the stem of blood flow to the brain is blood clots closely followed by aneurysms in the veins. The restriction of blood reduces the amount of oxygen available for the brain cells and the oxygen starved tissue becomes damaged [7]. The diagram to the left shows how a blood clot in a blood vessel can lead to a stroke. It shows how the vessel which is supplying blood to the brain becoming blocked by a blood clot. The arrow in the diagram indicates that the blood is no longer able to travel up the vein and so it forced to stop and be pushed backwards. As the blood is no longer able to pass through the vessel to the brain an area of the brain becomes deprived from oxygen. The diagram shows the area of brain that will be damaged due to this clot by shading a lighter area around where the blocked vessel leads. If the brain is starved from oxygen for up to 60 to 90 seconds then it is prevented from functioning. If this restriction of oxygen continues, after about 10 minutes the damage cannot be reversed [1]. A significant proportion of people’s lives are affected by stoke and a large amount of the health care budget is spent on treating stroke and its aftermath. Current treatments can effectively unblock the clot and restore
The Problem
Every year approximately 150,000 people in the UK suffer a Stroke [6]. It is the cause of 53,000 deaths in the UK alone [6] and is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide [1].
A stroke occurs when the flow of blood to the brain is prevented or highly restricted. The most common cause of the stem of blood flow to the brain is blood clots closely followed by aneurysms in the veins. The restriction of blood reduces the amount of oxygen available for the brain cells and the oxygen starved tissue becomes damaged [7]. The diagram to the left shows how a blood clot in a blood vessel can lead to a stroke. It shows how the vessel which is supplying blood to the brain becoming blocked by a blood clot. The arrow in the diagram indicates that the blood is no longer able to travel up the vein and so it forced to stop and be pushed backwards. As the blood is no longer able to pass through the vessel to the brain an area of the brain becomes deprived from oxygen. The diagram shows the area of brain that will be damaged due to this clot by shading a lighter area around where the blocked vessel leads. If the brain is starved from oxygen for up to 60 to 90 seconds then it is prevented from functioning. If this restriction of oxygen continues, after about 10 minutes the damage cannot be reversed [1]. A significant proportion of people’s lives are affected by stoke and a large amount of the health care budget is spent on treating stroke and its aftermath. Current treatments can effectively unblock the clot and restore
Bibliography: Source one [1]: Gittens. B and Subramaniam. N. 2010 “Brain on Fire, in the Biological sciences review volume 23, number 1”. Page 42. Source eight [8]: Ji, Y. and Liu, J. (2001) “Preliminary study on the oxygen consumption dynamics during brain hypothermia resuscitation”. IEEC International conference, vol 23, pp 3-4. (Also source of figure 3) Figure one: Diagram of a blood clot forming Source one [1]: Gittens. B and Subramaniam. N. 2010 “Brain on Fire, in the Biological sciences review volume 23, number 1”. Page 42.