Sustained Benefit of a Community and Professional Intervention to Increase Acute Stroke Therapy

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
THE EARLY SUCCESS of a community-based professional and public education project to increase delivery of acute stroke therapy in nonurban east Texas was previously reported.1 Each year, 731 000 people experience a stroke in the United States.2 Intravenous (IV) alteplase remains the only Food and Drug Administration–approved drug to treat stroke, but it must be given within a short 3-hour window. Industry and Medicare estimates suggest that only 1% to 2% of patients who experience ischemic stroke receive this treatment in the United States.3 Because ischemic neurons die in a time-dependent fashion, it is likely that new thrombolytic and neuroprotective treatments will also have a short time window for maximal efficacy.