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Stroke care: the way forward

University of Calgary

Correspondence to:
For correspondence:
T W J Watson;
watsont@ucalgary.ca

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The development of coronary care units, cardiac rehabilitation programmes, and thrombolysis revolutionised the management of acute myocardial infarction. Similarly, the development of stroke wards and stroke teams, thrombolysis, and aggressive early rehabilitation have revolutionised stroke care. Unfortunately acceptance and translation of these concepts into clinical practice has been slow. It is imperative that resources are committed to making this new standard of stroke care widely available.

THE EVIDENCE FOR THROMBOLYSIS
In 1995 the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) rt-PA stroke study demonstrated the efficacy of recombinant tissue type plasminogen activator (rt-PA) for the treatment of acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) when administered within three hours of symptom onset.¹ This randomised controlled trial of 624 patients reported a 13% absolute increase in favourable outcome at three months (defined as a modified Rankin Scale score (mRS) 0–1). The number of patients needed to treat (NNT) to result in one additional favourable outcome over . . . [Full text of this article]

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