The current status of endovascular treatment for acute ischaemic stroke

Stroke, a growing global healthcare burden, remains one of the leading culprits of disability and death in the Western world1. Ischaemic stroke accounts for the majority of all strokes, in which rapid restoration of blood flow to salvageable tissue at risk of infarction reduces the final area of infarct and provides better outcomes. For several years, fibrinolytic treatment with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), within four and a half hours of the onset of symptoms, has been the primary reperfusion strategy in the treatment of acute ischaemic stroke. Nonetheless, limitations of tPA therapy, including the low rates of recanalisation in ...