Stroke survivors may be losing up to one month of disability-free life for every 15-minute delay in treatment they experience, a new study has found.

If a stroke has been caused by a clot, one of the most likely forms of treatment considered will be thrombolysis, which is also known as clot busting treatment. As the name suggests, this treatment, which is provided intravenously, will break down the clot, stopping any further damage to the brain.

However, it can only be given to somebody who has had a stroke in the last four-and-a-half hours, although the reality is that the earlier it is given the better.

"Clot-busting treatment works equally well, irrespective of race, ethnicity or gender. Speedy restoration of blood flow to the brain is crucial for brain cell survival everywhere," commented the study's lead author, Dr Atte Meretoja, of the University of Melbourne in Australia.

He pointed out that most European, Australian and US stroke centres take up to 80 minutes to administer this treatment.

"In this study, we wanted to quantify the importance of speed in the hope that concrete easy-to-relate-to figures will inspire medical services to measure and improve their game for the benefit of our stroke patients," Dr Meretoja said.

He and his colleagues analysed data from clot-busting trials reported to date and applied these findings to almost 2,300 stroke patients from Finland and Australia. This was done in order to calculate what the patients outcome would have been had they been treated slower or faster.

They found that every 15-minute delay in delivering this vital treatment robbed survivors of up to one month of disability-free life.

On the other hand, for every 60 seconds the treatment could be delivered faster, patients gained 1.8 days of healthy life.

The study also found that while all patients benefitted from faster treatment, younger patients tended to fare slightly better than older patients.

"In stroke treatment, every minute saved gives patients days of healthy life. Patients should never wait a single minute for stroke signs, such as face droop, arm weakness or speech disturbance, to go away. They should call for help immediately.

Additionally, most emergency medical services and hospitals have the ability to reduce response and treatment delays significantly,' Dr Meretoja insisted.

The researchers reminded people of the importance of knowing how to recognise a stroke using the word FAST:
-F for face. Has the face fallen on one side, can the person smile?
-A for arms. Can the person raise both arms and keep them there?
-S for speech. Has their speech become slurred?
-T for time. Time is of the essence - call 999 immediately.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Stroke.

Every year, some 10,000 people in Ireland suffer a stroke and 2,000 people die as a result. Thousands more are left with stroke-related disabilities. For more information, click here