section_path: Management/Ischemic stroke
section_name: Ischemic stroke
paragraph_text: Ischemic stroke
  
  Aspirin reduces the overall risk of recurrence by 13% with greater benefit early on. Definitive therapy within the first few hours is aimed at removing the blockage by breaking the clot down (thrombolysis), or by removing it mechanically (thrombectomy). The philosophical premise underlying the importance of rapid stroke intervention was summed up as Time is Brain! in the early 1990s. Years later, that same idea, that rapid cerebral blood flow restoration results in fewer brain cells dying, has been proved and quantified.
  
  Tight blood sugar control in the first few hours does not improve outcomes and may cause harm. High blood pressure is also not typically lowered as this has not been found to be helpful. Cerebrolysin, a mixture of pig brain-derived neurotrophic factors used widely to treat acute ischemic stroke in China, Eastern Europe, Russia, post-Soviet countries, and other Asian countries, does not improve outcomes or prevent death and may increase the risk of severe adverse events. There is also no evidence that cerebrolysin‐like peptide mixtures which are extracted from cattle brain is helpful in treating acute ischemic stroke.