| Director: | Ingo Knopf |
| Camera: | Rainer Friedrich, Christian Eichenauer, Christopher Krätzmann, Barthold Strohmeyer, Frank van Vught |
| Sound: | Alexander Joksimovic, Alexander Czart, Jens Kränke, David Amsalem, Charles Grégoire, Philipp Linke |
| Editing: | Bianca Heuckeroth |
| Production Company: | a & o buero |
| First Broadcasted: | May 29, 2015 |
| Website › |
Almost every minute a person in Germany or France suffers a stroke. Worldwide it hits more than 15 million people each year. Stroke is, after cardiovascular disease, the second leading cause of death – still ahead of cancer – and very often cause of an acquired disability. Almost half of the stroke victims suffer from consequential damages such as paralysis and speech disorders and are permanently dependent on outside help. Not only older people are affected: every fifth stroke hits a person under 60 years.
The documentary shows how doctors in Germany and France try to help stroke patients by using the latest methods. French researchers are trying to get the severe side effects of the currently single drug for the acute treatment of stroke under control by a promising new surgical technique. Also they hope to get more time for treatment by a special low temperature therapy.
Berlin scientists investigate the effects of the amazing mirror therapy: in this therapy, the patient is deluded with a simple mirror that his stroke-paralyzed hand is functional again.
The documentary visits a Scottish patient who has participated in the world’s first stem cell study for stroke patients. In this revolutionary therapy the patients are injected with stem cells in the hope that they regenerate damaged brain areas. If the researchers are successful, that would be a breakthrough in the treatment of stroke patients.