Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0917798 (cerebral ischemia)
 17,036 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Thrombolytic therapy has been proposed in the treatment of cerebrovascular occlusive disease. Early clinical experiences with Urokinase and Streptokinase raised concern about the risk of hemorrhagic complications. More recently, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) has been evaluated experimentally with promising results. Its clinical utilization has been recently initiated. A review of experimental and clinical data on thrombolysis in cerebral ischemia is presented. TPA treatment produced recanalization and clinical improvement in several patients. The rate of intracranial hemorrhagic complications is similar to the incidence of spontaneous hemorrhagic conversion of ischemic infarction. Nevertheless, large placebo-controlled clinical trials are necessary to further define the efficacy and the optimal modality of administration of tPA in thromboembolic stroke.
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PMID:Thrombolysis in cerebral ischemia. A review of clinical and experimental data. 830 72

Stroke is a heterogeneous disease, but about 85% of strokes are as a result of cerebral ischaemia due to arterial occlusion. It seems logical to assume that, as in myocardial infarction, treatment designed to dissolve clots should be helpful. We now have a substantial amount of data on the use of aspirin, heparin and thrombolytic drugs in the treatment of acute ischaemic stroke. Aspirin 300 mg daily has a modest effect in reducing mortality and handicap when used within 48 hours of stroke onset. The beneficial effects of low dose, medium dose subcutaneous unfractionated heparin, and various low molecular weight heparins in reducing early recurrent ischaemic stroke seem to be outweighed by haemorrhagic side effects. Streptokinase used within six hours of stroke onset results in excess mortality with some reduction in handicap in survivors, while in carefully selected patients recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (r-TPA) may be less hazardous. At the moment it is unclear which stroke patients will benefit from the use of r-TPA, and the use of criteria, as outlined by the NINDS group, means that only a very small proportion of stroke victims are suitable for thrombolytic therapy. Further research is necessary, while the concept of a 'Brain Attack' with appropriate urgency being used in the assessment of possible stroke needs development.
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PMID:Reperfusion therapy for stroke. 1086 20