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Each year, many of the more than 600,000 Americans who suffer the most common type of stroke, known as an ischemic stroke, receive the only Food and Drug Administration-approved medication known to improve their chances of recovery with little or no disability. More should be getting the drug.

Ischemic stroke occurs when an obstruction, such as a blood clot, blocks blood flow to the brain. When this happens, part of the brain becomes deprived of the blood and oxygen it needs and nerve cells in the affected area die within minutes. Stroke is the leading cause of disability, and third-leading cause of death in the United States.

Symptoms include impaired speech, blurred vision, numbness on one side of the body, or sudden, severe headaches. The medication helps restore blood flow to the brain by breaking up the clot. Patients can receive Activase (alteplase, also known as tissue plasminogen activator or tPA), only if they begin treatment within three hours after their stroke symptoms start and only after they have had a scan to rule out bleeding in the brain.

For example, Ken Hockridge, a paramedic, was on duty when he felt a pressure in the back of his head. "My speech was slurred and the right side of my body was weak," he reported. He knew he was having a stroke. "I told my colleagues to get me to the hospital fast and that I needed Activase." He urges patients to call 911 and get to the nearest stroke center or, if there isn't one nearby, an emergency room, immediately at the first signs of stroke.

By: Stacey Moore

For more information, talk to your doctor and go to www.activase.com or phone (800) 821-8590. To find out where stroke centers are found, visit www.jointcommission.org/CertificationPrograms/Disease-SpecificCare/DSCOrgs.