AHA Issues Guidelines On tPA Use In Strokes

Divergent data on the use of thrombolytics in ischemic stroke patients (Marketletters passim) has prompted the American Heart Association to issue guidelines on how best to use Genentech's Activase (alteplase) brand of tissue plasminogen activator, the only approved thrombolytic for this indication.

The guidelines, which can be seen in full in the September 1 issues of the AHA journals Circulation and Stroke, recommend that:

- tPA should be administered intravenously, with 10% of the dose as a bolus and the remainder as a 60-minute infusion within three hours of stroke onset;