Thrombolytic Therapy for Stroke

Thrombolytic Therapy for Stroke is intended for physicians who will be treating patients in the first few hours after stroke: neurologists, neurosurgeons, emergency medicine physicians, internists, and radiologists. In some areas, fam­ ily medicine general practice physicians may provide the majority of acute stroke care. We will provide the reader with all the data necessary to understand the utility and limitations of thrombolytic therapy. By reading the protocols, and working through the case tutorials, the reader will become sufficiently familiar with the indications and contraindications of thrombolytic therapy to begin evalu­ ating potential patients. Although nothing can replace direct instruction by more experienced physicians, we hope that by imparting our accumulated knowledge we may guide those physicians who cannot attend a "hands-on" workshop, or who, having heard the appropriate lectures, feel the need for further guidance. We will review the scientific rationale for thrombolysis: first, most ischemic stroke is caused by thrombo-emboli; second, a portion of brain, the penumbra, remains salvageable for a few hours after vascular occlusion; and third, promptly delivered thrombolysis can remove the offending occlusion and restore cerebral blood flow to the penumbra in time to salvage brain and neurologic function. Then we will review the preclinical development of thrombolytics for stroke pa­ tients and the early pilot trials. Next, we will present the pivotal clinical trials that demonstrated the efficacy and safety of thrombolysis.