Washington State has one of the high est stroke mortality rates in the nation. To improve this situation, acute intervention al therapies for stroke are being employed to restore circulation to ischemic brain tissue that surrounds areas of completed infraction, while avoiding risk of hemor rhage due to reperfusion of large areas of infracted brain tissue.
Urgent thrombolysis with intrave nous alteplase is the only therapy known to improve clinical outcomes following acute stroke. Unfortunately, alteplase has had limited usage because many patients arrive in an emergency department after the three-hour treatment window. The FDA has also approved two clot removal devices based on the ability to restore circulation. These devices are used up to eight hours after symptom onset. Several approaches to improved acute stroke care are now under way, including extension of the thrombolysis window to 4.5 hours, identification of safer thrombolytic agents and research identifying brain at risk of in farction following a stroke.
A recent European study demonstrat ed the efficacy of alteplase up to 4.5 hours after ischemic stroke in patients younger than age 80 years who have neither dia betes mellitus or prior stroke. The safety profile during this longer window for these patients appears similar to that at three hours.
Another promising advance employs a new thrombolytic agent called des moteplase.
