Study Shows Leukemia Drug May Help Stroke Patients

Boston (dbTechno) - According to a new study, a drug used to treat leukemia known as Gleevec may also be helpful for stroke patients.

Researchers from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research carried out the study, along with researchers from the University of Michigan Medical School.

What they found was that the leukemia drug known as imatinib (Gleevec) can be helpful to stroke patients when combined with another drug.

When the drug is combined with tPA, it helps lower the risk of bleeding from strokes.

This was tested on successfully in mice and has proven to be effective.

The study revealed that the combination of the drugs helped reduce bleeding when it was given up to 5 hours after the onset of the stroke.

The study has been published in the Nature Medicine journal.