Argatroban Stroke Treatment - A Pilot Safety Study

All patients with acute ischemic stroke who qualify for IV rt-PA under accepted guidelines, and who have an occluded middle cerebral artery documented on TCD, receive standard dose IV rt-PA and a bolus and 48 hour infusion of argatroban aimed at prolonging the aPTT 1.75 X baseline. Follow up CT scanning and TCD every 30 minutes for 2 hours and then daily will determine the incidence of hemorrhage, recanalization and reocclusion, and serial neurological exam will determine the clinical outcome. For patients without temporal windows, a baseline CT-Angiogram (CTA) demonstrating arterial occlusion can also be enrolled. In those patients, a follow-up CTA (24-36 hours) will be performed.