Stroke treatments include medications and various surgical procedures. New drugs and procedures are under investigation right now in medical centers throughout the country, including the Jefferson Stroke Center, the largest center dedicated to stroke care in our area.

Time is of the essence when a patient suffers a stroke. Thrombolytics, such as tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), an acute clot buster, is capable of dissolving a clot if given within a three-hour window from symptom onset. The Mercer retriever and stenting procedures are available. Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience is among the first hospitals in the nation to offer a new coiling procedure to treat aneurysm.

The Jefferson Stroke Center offers emergency transport and sophisticated treatments such as endovascular and interventional surgeries like inter-arterial thrombolysis, in which a catheter is inserted into the cerebral artery to dissolve a clot with a thrombolytic, outside a three-hour window.