Diagnosis and Acute Treatment of Ischemic Stroke

Abstract

Stroke is defined as an acute cerebrovascular accident characterized by an interruption of vascular supply lasting more than 24 hours. Therapeutic goal, reassumed at the well-known "time is brain", is strictly focused on achieving timely restoration of cerebral blood flow at risk of infarction to reduce neurological complications. Consequently, time to treatment is the most important determinant of the efficacy of reperfusion. Current guidelines strongly recommend the use of intravenous thrombolysis with tissue plasminogen activator and endovascular thrombectomy to reach that goal. These therapies allow to obtain 1.9 million neurons saved per each minute of onset-to-reperfusion time and 4.2 days of extra healthy life and are crucial in the reduction of mortality and morbidity of ischemic stroke. Multidisciplinary collaboration involving a coordinated prehospital management and stroke team composed of physicians with expertise in emergency medicine, neurologists, radiologists, nurses, technicians, and laboratory personnel are essential for rapid triage and should guide clinical decisions to deliver the appropriate reperfusion therapy for each patient.

Keywords: DALYs; Ischemic stroke; acute stroke therapy; acute thrombolysis; atrial fibrillation; emergency medicine.