Can Anti-Stroke Procedure Make You Smarter?

April 2, 2006 — -- Could a stroke treatment also make you smarter?

Patients who underwent a minimally invasive neck procedure to reduce the risk of stroke also had unexpected gains in memory and mental skills, according to a new study unveiled at a conference of interventional radiologists in Toronto.

"In this study, most if not all the patients had improved mental capacity," said Dr. Rodney Raabe, an interventional radiologist who was the study's lead researcher.

The procedure, called carotid stenting, is an alternative to painful neck surgery and relies on tiny devices maneuvered through the circulatory system to the carotid arteries in the neck. Doctors inflate a balloon to push the plaque into the vessel wall and then implant a metal mesh scaffold, or stent, to keep the clogged artery open.

The stent "opens the artery to increase blood flow" to the brain and reduces the risk of a stroke, Raabe said.

"People who have high-grade narrowing of the arteries will benefit best," he said. "Particularly patients who have started to have memory problems should go to doctors to get an ultrasound to see if they have a blockage."

A Surprise

Stokes are significant problems in the United States. Every 45 seconds, an American has a stroke. Every three minutes, someone dies of a stroke, which is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability.

Twenty-two percent of men and 25 percent of women who have strokes die within a year and 15 percent to 30 percent of stroke victims are left disabled.

Even though the study seems promising, Raabe warned that there are several potential risks, including a low risk of a stroke from the procedure itself and minor bleeding at the entry site.

To prevent blood clots from traveling to the brain via the newly opened arteries, doctors have created an umbrella device that catches the clots and helps prevents strokes.

Raabe said the findings are astounding. Patients not only had a lower risk of suffering a stroke, but they also had improved cognitive function, better memory and better reasoning ability.

Some nursing home patients were able to go home after they underwent the procedure, Raabe said. Other patients who felt incapacitated felt well enough after the procedure to go back to work. Some patients reported that colors appeared brighter after the surgery.

Before the study, Raabe thought he would find that the stents would not hurt patients, and never thought he would find increase in mental acuity. He said the findings may change the way doctors think about blockages in arteries.

"In the past, we thought the only benefit is that they would only have a decrease of stroke [risk]," Raabe said. "This finding about the improvement in mental ability was a total surprise."