Thrombolytic Therapy in Acute Ischemic Stroke II

Over the last decade, interest in the treatment of ischemic stroke has increased significantly. Perhaps the single most important feature of attempts to improve the outcome of stroke patients has been the interventions applied within the very early hours of stroke symptoms. This has spawned efforts to understand the vascular and neuronal responses to cerebral artery reperfusion experimentally. Important prospective clinical studies of thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke have been completed, and large placebo-controlled, symptom-based studies are now underway worldwide. This book considers the central features of those studies, their experimental basis and the future importance of adjunctive therapies to brain ischemia. Risks and benefits are discussed.