Treatment of Stroke

For the best, most effective treatment of stroke, a person with a suspected stroke must be given immediate medical attention. It is during the critical first 3 to 6 hours following stroke that today's growing stroke therapy options have the highest curative potential. Doctors can now administer an injection of tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) to dissolve the clots that block blood flow to the brain. If the blockage can be removed with administration of TPA and sufficient blood flow is recovered within a three hour period following the stroke, the severity of permanent brain damage (nApproximately one-fourth of all strokes occur in people between the ages of 45 and 65. For most Like physical therapists, occupational therapists are concerned with improving motor and sensory abilities. eurological disability) is minimized or eliminated