ABSTRACT
Introduction Organizing regional networks linking primary care hospitals and physicians to comprehensive stroke centers (CSCs) capable of providing the entire spectrum of acute stroke intervention remains essential to increasing the number of stroke victims who receive acute interventions. Intravenous (IV) recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) use has increased very gradually from 1.4% in 2001 to 4.5% in 2009 in the United States. This increase is demonstrated in two different national administrative databases, and the initiation of stroke center certification seemed to be a key turning point.1 Continuation on this trajectory is needed.
