title: Current acute stroke trials and their potential impact on the therapeutic time window.
abstract: Several trials in acute stroke are underway or have been completed recently. Among the latter, ECASS 3 was a milestone regarding the extension of the rigid 3-h time window out to 4.5 h for intravenous thrombolysis with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator. Several other approaches are being tested for thrombolytic therapy, among them modern imaging-based patient selection of patients and interventional approaches. Other pharmaceutical strategies include neuroprotection, and restoration, biophysical approaches, such as near infrared laser therapy, hemodynamic augmentation, and sphenopalatine ganglion stimulation. This perspective will cover the recently completed and currently recruiting acute stroke trials with respect to their potential role in expanding the therapeutic time window for acute ischemic stroke.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Neurogeriatry, JW Klinikum Minden, Germany. peter.schellinger@klinikum-minden.de
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Schellinger
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Köhrmann
mesh_terms: D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D020521:Stroke / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors; D010959:Tissue Plasminogen Activator / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents; D010959:Tissue Plasminogen Activator