Study: Low-cost test may find new strokes as effectively as an MRI

Here's a study that, if its premise continues to hold up, could generate meaningful savings for the healthcare system. A group of U.S. researchers have concluded that a simple, one-minute eye movement examination works better than an MRI to detect new strokes.

The study, which was published in the journal Stroke, notes that eye movements are altered in people having a stroke, in ways that relate to which areas of the brain are affected. These movements can easily be distinguished from eye movements associated with less-harmful diseases.

Doctors can use a one-minute exam to determine whether a patient, for example, can't adjust their eye position if their head is quickly turned to the side. Indicators like these can actually do a better job than an MRI of determining whether patients are stroking out, researchers said.

To learn more about the study:
- read this UPI piece