Important Announcements

Nondiscrimination Statement Update

Boston Medical Center Health System complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, national origin (including limited English proficiency and primary language), religion, culture, physical or mental disabilities, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity and/or expression. BMCHS provides free aids and services to people with disabilities and free language services to people whose primary language is not English.

To see our full nondiscrimination statement, click here.

Campus Construction Update

Starting September 14, we’re closing the Menino building lobby entrance. This, along with the ongoing Yawkey building entrance closure, will help us bring you an even better campus experience that matches the exceptional care you've come to expect. Please enter the Menino and Yawkey buildings through the Moakley building, and make sure to leave extra time to get to your appointment. Thank you for your patience. 

Click here to learn more about our campus redesign. 

ATACH2

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ATACH2: Antihypertensive Treatment of Acute Cerebral Hemorrhage

Sponsor: NIH

Investigators: Joseph Burns MD (principal), Jose Romero MD, Thanh Nguyen MD, Viken Babikian MD

Summary

Intracerebral hemorrhage, or "stroke caused by a bleed," is a fatal condition that often leads to disability and death. A common observation in this kind of stroke is that the bleed can grow in size with time. The growth of the bleed, which commonly occurs in the first 3-6 hours, can cause compression of the nearby structures in the brain leading to rapid deterioration of consciousness and death. Reducing blood pressure in the early stages of a hemorrhagic stroke is thought to limit the amount of brain damage that occurs. Less brain damage may reduce the high levels of death and disability commonly found in this form of stroke.

Purpose

Currently, there is insufficient evidence on what blood pressure levels are best for treating patients suffering from an intracerebral hemorrhage. The purpose of this study is to find out if there is a benefit to reducing systolic blood pressure (SBP) in a more intensive way (keeping SBP less than 140 mmHg) compared with standard SBP treatment (keeping SBP less than 180 mmHg). The primary way the study team will measure if intensive SBP treatment is better than standard SBP treatment is by assessing the disability levels of study participants three months after their stroke.

Results pending (study on-going)