“This modality allows us to target the precise blood vessel blockage responsible for a patient’s stroke, much as cardiologists do in the heart,” says Dr. Isaac Silverman, MD, neurologist and co-medical director of The Stroke Center.

“Advantages over IV t-PA are that the catheter or another device can mechanically disrupt and fragment the clot and delivers doses of t-PA to the clot which are much lower, presumably lowering the risk for life-threatening bleeding in the brain. Most importantly, the longer time window for IA therapy enables us to treat more of our patients.”