Intravenous thrombolysis for acute stroke

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Abstract
We selected papers for inclusion in our review in two ways. First, we collected the pivotal works known to one or more of the authors. Second, we performed a Medline retrieval for the years 1966 to 1996 using the search terms cerebrovascular disorders and human thrombolytic therapy, excluding references with the terms myocardial infarction or coronary angiography. We also excluded papers not written primarily in English. This search yielded 178 references. We carefully examined the titles and subject words. We eliminated 32 that appeared to be letters or editorials, 46 that appeared to be review articles with no original data, 10 that were case reports of one or a few patients, 23 that addressed the use of intra-arterial thrombolysis, and 53 that were concerned with other uses of thrombolysis such as removing intracerebral hematomas or preventing vasospasm. We retrieved, critically reviewed, and categorized the 14 remaining papers using the criteria listed in table 1.