Forward thinking in stroke management: A highlight from the Tiantan International Stroke Conference

摘要

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and morbidity in industrialized nations. According to the American Heart Association, the incidence of new or recurrent stroke in the USA is about 800 000 per year, which averages to someone having a stroke every 40 seconds. In China, the incidence of new stroke is over two million and is one of the leading causes of mortality, with deaths from stroke accounting for over 20% of total deaths. These statistics are a humble reminder that continued research in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of stroke is imperative. This Special Issue of Neurological Research is devoted to reviewing the progress of clinical and basic science research in stroke and other neurovascular diseases. In this issue, we review some of the key progresses in recent stroke management, as well as highlight some promising studies in the prevention and treatment of stroke from the 2013 Tiantan International Stroke Conference. Current armament in acute stroke management consists of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) administration or an invasive procedure for clot retrieval within a limited time window. The lack of clinically effective treatments for stroke requires efforts to investigate new therapeutic modalities with transla-tional potential. The path to the discovery of novel stroke therapies has so far been riddled with near misses and frequent trips back to the drawing board. The classic approach of finding a solution at the bench, and then testing it in the clinical setting has been cumbersome, time-consuming, and often-times ineffective. The importance of removing the barriers of classical science and shifting to a translational model will greatly facilitate the ease and significance of future studies.