Stroke: an emergency. Acute ischaemic stroke

Treatment of ischemic stroke consists of (i) general patient management (maintaining vital signs, ensuring normal biological parameters except for blood pressure, preventing complications), (ii) admission to an acute stroke unit, (iii) rt-PA for in patients admitted with 4.5 hours of stroke onset who have no contraindications, sometimes followed by mechanical thrombectomy in case of proximal artery occlusion, (iv) aspirin (160 to 300 mg) for patients who are not eligible for rt-PA, and (v) decompressive surgery for patients at risk of a malignant infarct. All these treatments should be administered rapidly. A centralized emergency call system (phone number 15 in France) is the most effective way to achieve this objective.