Try It or Trial It

Abstract

“Try it or Trial it” is an apt title for a session at this 25th Princeton Stroke Conference because of the pivotal concepts this think tank has initiated in basic and clinical research designed to prevent, treat and rehabilitate stroke victims. Having attended these conferences intermittently since 1961, I suspect I am now the senior attendee. You may not be aware that Irving S. Wright, who founded this conference, was a cardiologist who introduced heparin to the United States from Sweden by studying its safety and efficacy in one of the first randomized trials for patients experiencing myocardial infarction to prevent venous thromboembolism and extension of acute myocardial infarction. In the same context it was he, along with Mrs Mary Lasker, who developed the concept for Princeton Conferences and for a change in national policy regarding research in heart disease and stroke. As Mrs Lasker recalled to me, one of her friends had recently experienced a stroke and she was told there was no treatment other than bed rest. Together they decided to change this sorry state of affairs: Mrs Lasker supplied funds and Dr Wright the impetus for inviting colleagues from many disciplines to …