Patients should expect a rapid response. At the emergency room, a person complaining of stroke symptoms should expect to be seen within 10 minutes and to have a CAT scan, preferably within half an hour, Barsan says. The drug must be given within three hours after the onset of symptoms, so it's important to note when the attack began, Barsan says. Because stroke victims often suffer confusion and difficulty communicating, it's helpful if someone who witnessed the attack accompanies the patient to the emergency room. If the patient qualifies for TPA, it will be given intravenously over the period of an hour, Hickenbottom says.
Results can be dramatic.
With TPA, stroke survivors have a 50-percent chance of a full recovery, as opposed to 30 percent without the drug, Barsan says. Each year, more than 500,000 Americans suffer a stroke, yet the risk of dying from a stroke is less than half what it was 20 years ago, thanks to better control of risk factors and improved treatment, according to the Mayo Clinic Division of Cerebrovascular Diseases. There are other drugs as promising as TPA waiting for approval by the US Food and Drug Administration, Barsan says, making the outlook even more hopeful for stroke sufferers. Stroke clearly is treatable. It's hopeless only if you don't get to the hospital in time.