Clot-busting drugs did not improve function but raised bleeding risk for minor strokes

People with minor strokes often face a hard choice: take strong medicine to clear a clot or rely on standard care. A massive review looked at 4,361 patients with minor ischemic stroke to see if intravenous thrombolysis, or IVT, helped them recover better. This treatment uses a drug to dissolve the blockage causing the stroke. The researchers compared it to standard medical management, which involves treating the stroke without clot-busting drugs. The goal was to see if the drug helped patients regain full function within 90 days. The results were clear and sobering. The drug did not make patients more likely to have an excellent recovery. In fact, the risk of a dangerous brain bleed was much higher for those who took the clot-busting medicine. This bleeding is a serious complication that can worsen the injury. The chance of dying within 90 days did not change between the two groups. This study suggests that doctors should be very careful before using these powerful drugs for minor strokes. The potential harm of bleeding outweighs the lack of proven benefit for this specific group of patients.