New guidelines give physicians added response time for strokes

New stroke-treatment guidelines were issued Wednesday that will significantly extend the time during which doctors can remove blood clots that are choking off circulation to the brain.
The American Stroke Association's guidelines, published in the journal Stroke and released at an international meeting of the group, are based on two studies that show brain cells can still be rescued by a procedure to remove the clot up to 16 hours in selected patients. Old guidelines held doctors have just six h