This pathophysiology provides the rationale for not treating hypertension in acute stroke, unless it is very severe, and for the administration of pharmacologic agents that can accelerate clot lysis or mitigate the pathophysiologic mechanisms of neural death.

The only agent so far vetted in adequate clinical studies is rTPA.

Because stroke recurrence tends to occur quite quickly, early stroke management also involves the aggressive evaluation and treatment of causes of recurrence.

Copyright 2000