Review of Stroke Thrombolytics

Abstract

The cornerstone of acute ischemic stroke treatment relies on rapid clearance of an offending thrombus in the cerebrovascular system. There are various drugs and different methods of assessment to select patients more likely to respond to treatment. Current clinical guidelines recommend the administration of intravenous alteplase (following a brain noncontract CT to exclude hemorrhage) within 4.5 hours of stroke onset. Because of the short therapeutic time window, the risk of hemorrhage, and relatively limited efficacy of alteplase for large clot burden, research is ongoing to find more effective and safer reperfusion therapy, as well as focussing on refinement of patient selection for acute ..