Ever since the Garden of Eden, snakes have gotten a bad rap; their fangs and venom are the stuff of horror movies and nightmares. In the medical world, snakes are becoming good guys.
Doctors are testing snake venom to see if it can help buy time for stroke victims.
"I see quite a few snakes around here. A friend of mine got bit right up on my porch," said stroke victim Brad Edgin.
The same properties of the venom that made his friend sick might have helped Edgin through his stroke.
"I felt like I was in a dream. I couldn't really walk correctly. So, I figured I'd just go back to bed and wake up the next morning and everything would be peachy," Edgin said.
The next day, Brad's left side was paralyzed and his speech was slurred. To make matters worse, he didn't get to the hospital in time for standard treatment, a drug called TPA. If you get TPA within three hours, there's a good chance it can break up the blood clot that's cutting off blood flow to your brain. Edgin did get there in time to receive an experimental drug called Ancrod, made from the venom of the Malayan pit viper.
"It's a snake venom that has been demonstrated to have properties that break up clot and make the blood less viscous or thick," said Dr. Bart Demaerschalk, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic.
Demaerschalk and his team are part of a national study to see if snake venom will help stroke victims for up to six hours after onset of symptoms.
"We don't know whether [Edgin] truly received Ancrod or whether he received the placebo, but we do know that he had a much better than expected recovery from his stroke," Demaerschalk said. If the study results are positive, doctors will have another weapon in the fight against stroke.
If you ever fear you are having a stroke, call an ambulance because time is of the essence.
