Exploring the connection between Alzheimer’s disease and stroke

By Shelby Roberts

Alzheimer’s disease is the No. 6 cause of death in the United States, and stroke is the No. 4 cause.

Helena Chui, MD, chair, Department of Neurology, Raymond and Betty McCarron Chair in Neurology, and professor of neurology and gerontology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, recently gave a presentation on Alzheimer’s disease and its relation to stroke on Nov. 6 as the sixth lecture in an ongoing Stroke Seminar Series at the Rio Hando Community Center in Downey, Calif. The event was hosted by the Roxanna Todd Hodges Stroke Foundation. Read More »

December 24th, 2013|Announcements|

Experimental drug reduces brain damage, eliminates brain hemorrhaging in rodents afflicted by stroke

By Alison Trinidad

An experimental drug called 3K3A-APC appears to reduce brain damage, eliminate brain hemorrhaging and improve motor skills in older stroke-afflicted mice and stroke-afflicted rats with comorbid conditions such as hypertension, according to a new study from Keck Medicine of USC.

The study, which appears online in the journal Stroke, provides additional evidence that 3K3A-APC may be used as a therapy for stroke in humans, either alone or in combination with the FDA-approved clot-busting drug therapy tPA (tissue plasminogen activator). Clinical trials to test the drug’s efficacy in people experiencing acute ischemic stroke are expected to begin recruiting patients in the United States in 2014. Read More »

November 20th, 2013|Announcements|

Drug reduces brain damage, hemorrhaging in rodents afflicted by stroke

By Alison Trinidad

An experimental drug called 3K3A-APC appears to reduce brain damage, eliminate brain hemorrhaging and improve motor skills in older stroke-afflicted mice and stroke-afflicted rats with comorbid conditions such as hypertension, according to a new study from Keck Medicine of USC.

The study, which appears online in the journal Stroke, provides additional evidence that 3K3A-APC may be used as a therapy for stroke in humans, either alone or in combination with the FDA-approved clot-busting drug therapy tPA (tissue plasminogen activator). Clinical trials to test the drug’s efficacy in people experiencing acute ischemic stroke are expected to begin recruiting patients in the United States in 2014. Read More »

November 11th, 2013|Announcements|

USC, UCLA get $2M to develop stroke center network in Southland

By Mark Wheeler

Stroke is the second leading cause of death in Los Angeles County. To cut those numbers, it’s imperative that new treatments be developed and refined for stroke prevention, acute therapy and recovery after stroke.

Now, a three-way partnership between the USC Comprehensive Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center at Keck Medicine of USC, the UCLA Stroke Center at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and UC Irvine Health Comprehensive Stroke & Cerebrovascular Center has been awarded a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to address these three stroke priorities.  Read More »

October 25th, 2013|Announcements|

Stroke awareness and prevention seminar comes to USC Verdugo

The Roxanna Todd Hodges Stroke Foundation will be holding a Stroke Awareness & Prevention seminar at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital on Thursday, Sept. 5, from noon to 2 p.m. The guest speaker will be Nerses Sanossian, MD, assistant professor of neurology and associate director of the Neurocritical Care/Stroke Section at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Read More »

September 3rd, 2013|Announcements|

Second annual Roxanna Todd Hodges lecture highlights stroke reduction

The second annual Roxanna Todd Hodges Visiting Lectureship in Stroke Prevention and Education was awarded to Cheryl Bushnell, MD, MHS, associate professor of neurology at Wake Forest School of Medicine. Bushnell is director of the Wake Forest Baptist Stroke Center and a thought leader in issues regarding women’s health and stroke, and performing community interventions for reducing stroke risk.

Bushnell’s lecture, “21st Century Stroke Prevention: What will it look like?” was presented at Neurology Grand Rounds held the morning of Aug. 6 at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, part of the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

Read More »

August 30th, 2013|Announcements|

Research team awarded $11 million grant to fight stroke

By Josh Grossberg

USC researchers and their partners across Los Angeles County have been awarded an $11 million grant to fund research on community-based interventions to reduce the higher rates of stroke and death from stroke among economically disadvantaged Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian-Americans.

Amytis Towfighi Amytis Towfighi

The Los Angeles Stroke Prevention/Intervention Research Program in Health Disparities is a multi-partnered research center, funded by the National Institutes of Health. The center, led by Barbara Vickrey, professor of neurology at UCLA, will conduct two randomized, controlled community-based trials of stroke prevention interventions.

Amytis Towfighi, assistant professor of neurology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and associate chief medical officer of Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, will co-lead the larger trial in the five-year study.

“The reason we’re targeting this population is because minorities are at high risk for stroke and are less likely to receive appropriate stroke preventive services than whites,” Towfighi said. “We plan to bridge this gap.” Read More »

May 16th, 2013|Announcements|