Vital stroke clot treatment fails to reach Scots

STROKE patients in Scotland are facing “Russian roulette” over access to a treatment, it has been claimed.

- By Katrine Bussey

A report reveals only 2.2% of patients last year were given a thrombectomy.

Of the 9,625 cases where Scots had an ischaemic stroke last year, figures from Public Health Scotland showed 212 patients received the treatment - where a blood clot is surgically removed from an artery.

The total is up from 153 in 2023 and 112 in 2022, but Public Health Scotland noted it “still represents only 2.2% of the total number of people who had an ischaemic stroke in 2024”.