How should we treat patients who wake up with a stroke? A review of recent advances in management of acute ischemic stroke

Acute ischemic strokes account for 85% of all strokes and are the fifth leading cause of mortality in the United States. About one in five of all ischemic strokes occur during sleep and are not noticed until the patient wakes up with neurological deficits. There is growing evidence to support that a significantly higher number of stroke patients could benefit from more aggressive care, especially those patients who wake up with strokes. There is increasing research to support a physiologically-based approach based on advanced imaging rather than simply a time-based determination ofwhether or not a patient would benefit fromreperfusion. Advanced imaging such as CT-Perfusion andMR DWI-FLAIR can be used to establish the age of the lesion and determine the extent of the brain tissue that is salvageable. If physicians could identify those patients with wake-up strokes that are candidates for intervention, there may be opportunity to treat 3 million more people, reducing long term disability and healthcare expenditures. Patients who are in the window for IV rtPA should receive it as soon as possible aswell as be evaluated for mechanical thrombectomy. For thosewho are out of the windowfor IV rtPA, consider further imaging such as CTP and MR brain for diffusion-weighted sequences to evaluate for potential endovascular intervention. If a large vessel occlusion is present and imaging demonstrates a small infarct core and a large area of salvageable tissue, mechanical thrombectomy may be beneficial for the best possible functional outcome. (c) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.