Patient description: A 62-year-old African-American man presented with left upper and lower extremity weakness, associated with dark visual spot in right eye, right facial numbness, facial drop and slurred speech. He denied dyspnea, headache, palpitations, chest pain, fever, dizziness, bowel or urinary incontinence, loss of consciousness. His medical history was significant for hypertension, hyperlipidemia and hypothyroidism. He smokes cigarette 1 pack per day for 40 years and alcohol consumption of 5 to 6 beers per week. He is not aware about his family history. He is using Levothyroxine, Atorvastatin and HTCZ. His vital signs were stable in the primary evaluation. Left-sided facial droop, dysarthria, and left-sided hemiplegia were seen in the physical exam. His National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score was calculated as 7. Initial CT angiogram of head and neck reported no acute intracranial findings. Intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) was administered as well as high-dose statin therapy. The patient was admitted to the intensive care unit to be monitored for 24 hours. MRI of the head revealed an acute 1.7-cm infarct of the right periventricular white matter and posterior right basal ganglia.

Clinical trial eligibility criteria: eligible ages (years): 18.0-999.0,  Stroke Patients with at least a serious, measurable deficit on the NIH Stroke Scale in language (aphasia score > 1), motor power (arm or leg > 1), vision (best visual score > 2), or attention (attention score > 2). Thus eligible patients may have a minimum total score of 1 if the deficit is in language or motor power. There is no maximum score that is exclusionary; even patients with severe hemispheric or brainstem deficits will be eligible, as is current practice with intravenous rt-PA. Patients with all ischemic stroke types and in all vascular distributions are eligible Must arrive at participating hospital and treatment begun within 3 hours of the onset of symptoms. Patients awakening with new symptoms must use the time last observed to be normal and awake and the total time cannot exceed three hours prior to treatment as the time of onset Must be 18 years of age or older  Patients with a) minor stroke symptoms (e.g., sensory loss, ataxia, dysarthria, or facial weakness alone) or b) major symptoms which are rapidly improving by the time of treatment Patients for whom a complete NIH Stroke Score cannot be obtained (e.g., intubated patients or complete amputees) Patients with evidence of intracranial hemorrhage on pretreatment CT scan Patients with a clinical presentation that suggests subarachnoid hemorrhage, even if the initial CT scan is normal Patients who are known or suspected to be pregnant Patients with a known bleeding diathesis or patients with a platelet count < 100,000. For patients who are taking oral Warfarin (Coumadin), the results of the pretreatment International Normalized Ratio (INR) must be available prior to treatment and must be </= 1.4. Patients who have received heparin within 48 hours must have a normal partial thromboplastin time (PTT) to be eligible. Patients who have received low molecular weight heparin or heparinoid within 24 hours are also excluded Patients with major surgery or serious trauma excluding head trauma within 14 days or serious head trauma within 3 months Patients with a history of gastrointestinal or urinary tract hemorrhage in the previous 21 days Patients with an arterial puncture at a non-compressible site or a lumbar puncture in the previous 7 days