In the rTPA group, roughly 50% of patients achieved such a favorable outcome. At the same time, although 2.9% of rTPA treated patients died of intracranial hemorrhage, rTPA treatment did not increase the total number of people who died or had very bad outcomes.

The conclusions from this study are clear: rTPA is not a miracle drug, it is potentially quite risky, and used appropriately, it produces a clinically meaningful improvement in outcome.

Copyright 2000