Emergency Medicine Practice: Four Evolving Strategies In The Emergenct Treatment Of Acute Ischemic Stroke

Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability in the United
States and is the fourth leading cause of death, affecting nearly
800,000 patients each year. The physical, emotional, and financial
toll stroke inflicts on patients and their families cannot be overstated.
At the forefront of acute stroke care, emergency clinicians are
positioned to have a major impact on the quality of care that stroke
patients receive. This issue outlines and reviews the literature on
4 evolving strategies reflecting developing advancements in the
care of acute ischemic stroke and their potential to impact patients
in the emergency department setting: (1) the expanding window
for intravenous rt-PA, (2) the use of multimodal computed tomographic
scanning in emergent diagnostic imaging, (3) endovascular
therapies for stroke, and (4) stroke systems of care. Whether
practicing in a tertiary care environment or in a remote emergency
department, emergency clinicians will benefit from familiarizing
themselves with these advancements and should consider how
these new approaches might influence their management of patients
with acute ischemic stroke.