Treatment of acute stroke: an update

About 17 million strokes occur worldwide each year and it is the second leading cause of global mortality and a major cause of neurological disability. Patients with stroke often require long-term rehabilitation following the acute phase, with ongoing support from the community and nursing home care. In this overview published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, the current strategies for specific treatment of stroke in the acute phase, focusing on intravenous thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy are discussed. Two important issues related to intravenous thrombolysis treatments: (i) how to shorten the delay between stroke onset and treatment and (ii) how to reduce the risk of symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage are also considered.

This article is free online until Dec 15, 2015, after this date please contact your library.

Mikulik, R., & Wahlgren, N. (2015). Treatment of Acute Stroke: an update. Journal of Internal Medicine, 278(2), 145-165