If you or a loved one develop warning signs or symptoms of stroke, then you should immediately call 911 and notify your doctor. Effective treatment exists for stroke. Patients who receive tPA are 30 to 50 percent more likely to have minimal or no functional loss at 90 days after stroke than patients who do not receive tPA are. It is essential that the exact time of symptom onset be firmly established since tPA has not been proven to be effective or safe if given after three hours of stroke onset. It is useful to link the onset of symptoms to some activity, such as the person wah watching a segment of a news program that occurs at a specific time.
Recent data indicate that tPA therapy is underutilized.
Even if an individual is not eligible for tPA therapy, there is a good reason to seek medical care. Individuals with certain types of heart disease or severe narrowing of a brain artery may receive Heparin and Coumadin. If other forms of brain artery disease are found then aspirin, Tielid, Plavix or other medicines that inhibit or reduce the function of platelets may be used. These medical and surgical treatments have been shown to be effective in reducing the risk of stroke occurrence or reoccurrence. Patients with hemorrhagic stroke are often cared for primarily by neurologists or neurosurgeons, who may use medications, surgery or other techniques to treat the cause of the bleeding.