Reperfusion of ischemia in the heart or brain.

Abstract

The current treatment of choice for an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is an interventional procedure like percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), which takes 2 to 3 hours and is not appropriate for clots in arteries smaller than the catheter. Because PCI requires inpatient catheterization, there is an inevitable delay in reperfusion of the ischemia. This delay was shown to have a linear relationship with AMI mortality. The longer the delay, from <5 minutes to >3 hours, the greater the cardiovascular disease mortality. Instead of PCI, a sequential combination of tissue-type plasminogen activator and prourokinase is the most effective treatment for conditions like AMI and ischemic stroke that mirrors the endogenous fibrinolytic process.