The Problem

Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) results from a neurovascular blood clot and is the leading cause of neurological disability and 5th leading cause of death in the US. AIS impacts more than 700,000 Americans each year, with 65% of victims dying or being left severely disabled. Standard treatments include thrombectomy and thrombolysis. Although thrombectomy can be highly effective, only a minority of stroke victims are eligible. Furthermore, thrombectomy-eligible patients often face long transfers to thrombectomy centers, which often results in patients becoming ineligible for thrombectomy due to neurological worsening. In these cases, thrombolysis may be the only intervention patients receive. However, thrombolysis is not highly effective and has the risk of causing life-threatening intracranial hemorrhage. As a result, thrombolysis is only used in about 10% of cases. Thus, 90% of AIS patients only receive palliative care.