The European Stroke Organisation (ESO) Guidelines on Intravenous Thrombolysis (IVT) for Acute Ischaemic Stroke

The production of high-quality guidelines has been identified as a top priority for ESO and up to 10 new guidelines are expected to be published in 2021. The first of these is published online first in the European Stroke Journal today. Guidelines on intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) for acute ischaemic stroke.

The European Stroke Organisation (ESO) guidelines on intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) for acute ischaemic stroke provides forty recommendations on the use of thrombolytic drugs. The module working group, led by Guillaume Turc, William Whiteley and the late Eivind Berge, has written evidence-based recommendations and expert consensus statements covering the following topics :

• early and late time windows
• stroke of unknown onset
• advanced imaging
• alteplase and tenecteplase
• minor and severe strokes
• patients over 80 or with previous disability or frailty
• potential risk factors for bleeding including use of oral anticoagulants

Watch the below video with the key messages.

The ESO guidelines on management of Transient Ischemic Attack, prepared by a module working group chaired by Aine Merwick and Ana Catarina Fonseca, is also expected to be published soon and will cover important topics such as services organisation including the role of stroke specialists and TIA clinics; usefulness of risk prediction tools such as the ABCD2 score; brain imaging (plain and perfusion CT, MRI), imaging of cervical arteries, and single and dual antiplatelet therapy.