Once symptoms of stroke start a stopwatch starts with time lost being brain tissue lost. Timing is everything, quick to stroke center, for a rapid workup to determine extent, type and care of the stroke. The clock starts when symptoms start.

2018 Guidelines for stroke care are:

-a blood thinner must be given up to 3-4.5 hours of symptoms starting.

-If you are a candidate for mechanical removal of the clot, it should be done as soon as possible but within 6-16 and possibly 24 hours.

Decades ago blood thinners (‘clot busters’) were the revolutionary bullet doctors used to reverse strokes caused by a blood clot in the brain. Today there is another method felt to be equally effective and in some cases advantageous. Mechanical removal of the clot in some cases resulted in excellent outcomes – stroke reversal. Presented last month and immediately adopted and published are new guidelines.