Circ Cardiovasc Qual
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Circ Cardiovasc Qual · May 2012
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyUse of tissue-type plasminogen activator before and after publication of the European Cooperative Acute Stroke Study III in Get With The Guidelines-Stroke.
The European Cooperative Acute Stroke Study (ECASS) III demonstrated benefit to expanding the intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) window from 3 to 4.5 hours for patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We investigated how this trial influenced use of tPA in clinical practice. ⋯ Following publication of ECASS III, there has been a significant increase in the use of tPA between 3 and 4.5 hours without adversely affecting treatment of patients in the <3-hour window. However, there remains substantial opportunity to further improve treatment rates in the later time window.