A radical new stroke treatment is being hailed by an Auckland researcher as the biggest scientific advance in the fight against stroke in 20 years.
Three new international studies have praised the technique, called clot retrieval, which involves feeding a thin tube called a catheter up a patient's groin and into the brain, and pulling out the clot.
Patients at Auckland Hospital were among those who took part in the studies.
Auckland University's Professor Alan Barber said the studies showed that by doing this, the clot was fully removed about 80 percent of the time.
"That opens up the artery, it destroys blood flow to the brain and if there's any permanent damage that's too late, but it prevents that permanent damage from getting any bigger and limits the size of the stroke."
Strokes affect about 8000 people every year, and are the third most common cause of death in New Zealand.
