After confirming that a stroke has occurred, many stroke patients are treated within three hours of the onset of symptoms with a clot-dissolving drug called Tissue Plasminogen Activator (tPA). Our experienced Stroke & Cerebrovascular Center endovascular neurointerventionalists have been performing a more advanced version of this treatment—intra-arterial thrombolysis—since 1993. This method allows tPA to be delivered straight to the source of the clot, instead of waiting for it to flow from a vein into the bloodstream and to the brain. This treatment can be given up to six hours after the onset of a stroke. And our endovascular neurointerventionalists are on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.