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For decades, we’ve known how critical it is to focus on stroke care and prevention. When a blood vessel in the brain becomes blocked, narrowed or bursts, it can cause irreversible damage to the brain’s neurons in a matter of minutes to hours. After years of advances, we now have more options for stroke treatment than ever before.
From emergent stroke care within the first 24 hours to uncovering the root cause of stroke to long-term stroke prevention, the way we care for a stroke today looks different than it did even a decade ago. For you or those you love, this could mean a meaningful difference in your stroke recovery and overall quality of life.
Over the last decade, stroke treatment has improved across the entire stroke care journey. We’ve updated acute (short-term) stroke care protocols and treatments, improved advanced imaging methods to pinpoint the source of the stroke, and made important strides in recovery after a stroke.
One of the biggest challenges in caring for a stroke is the short amount of time doctors have to intervene before brain cells are permanently damaged. While some organs can tolerate a lack of blood flow, the brain is poorly equipped to handle it due to the absence of stores of glucose or other nutrients. Once cut off from nutrients, neurons start to die very quickly.
In the past, treatment options were limited, and medications had to be given in a very small window. Factors like lack of awareness, limited access and fewer standardized protocols meant most people missed windows for treatment. After a stroke, the cause remained unknown in about 40% of people, making preventing another stroke more difficult, too.
From the time you call 911 to support for years after a stroke, care has improved through every step of stroke treatment in recent years:
Even with the many advances in stroke care over the last 10 years, the idea that “time is brain” still matters. Right now, we don’t have a treatment that allows neurons to grow back once they’re gone. So the faster you receive emergency stroke treatment, the better chance you have of preserving brain health.
Even while awareness is growing, only about 20 - 25% of people receive acute stroke care within 24 hours of symptom onset. That’s a significant number of people who aren’t getting the optimal care. Everyone should know what to watch for and call 911 immediately if they notice stroke signs in themselves or others.
Related: Warning signs of a stroke? How to act and BE FAST
Continued advances in stroke care are most important because they make a positive impact on people’s lives. The ability to start treatment quickly, identify the cause of the stroke and coordinate care across a care team ultimately means better health results.
For those within the 24-hour window, imaging tests help your care team guide immediate treatment. The most common type of stroke is an ischemic stroke, where a clot or plaque blocks blood flow in the brain.
A CT scan without contrast helps us rule out a stroke caused by a blood vessel bursting, called a hemorrhagic stroke. CTA head and neck imaging allows us to visualize where a blood clot is in a vessel.
Even if you don’t receive care in the first 24 hours, imaging remains important in the following days, as your chance of another stroke is higher.
Advanced imaging helps identify the reason you’re having a stroke so that we can prevent the next stroke from occurring. With these advances, the number of strokes with an undetermined source has gone from 40% in 2015 down to 20% today.
For acute stroke, the two main treatments today include intravenous thrombolytics, or IVT, and endovascular thrombectomy, or EVT.
Over the years, stroke care teams have also improved, helping connect you to the care you need when you need it. Today, stroke centers have processes in place to activate the right team at the right time.
This gives people access to a coordinated team of emergency medicine physicians, emergency nurses, neurologists and interventional radiologists for short-term care, as well as ongoing support with stroke rehabilitation specialists and follow-up.
Advances in acute stroke care are making a difference in our ability to treat stroke in the emergency setting. But advances in care after a stroke are just as important.
In the days following a stroke, we’ve improved subacute care, and in the months and years after, we can reduce the risk of future strokes with risk factor management.
Along with stroke recovery and rehabilitation, your care team will focus on monitoring and prevention during the first days and weeks. After you have a stroke, you have an increased risk for another one.
The risk is highest in the first three weeks and remains higher for about three months. Most people may even go home with two medications to help prevent clots from forming during these first months.
To help guide your care plan, you’ll have additional tests such as:
Everyone’s stroke recovery plan is different, depending on the type of stroke and severity, initial treatment and other health conditions. To support your recovery, many stroke rehabilitation services are available, including physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and cognitive rehabilitation.
In recent years, there’s a growing emphasis on prevention as part of recovery. Advances in risk factor management have improved our ability to reduce the chance of another stroke occurring.
American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 provides eight areas of focus when it comes to preventing future strokes:
Related: Stroke prevention: Why medications and lifestyle both matter
Today, different organizations provide guidelines to help classify the level of stroke care available at hospitals. The highest level is called a comprehensive stroke center.
While some people only have one hospital nearby, if you have multiple hospitals, it’s beneficial to choose the one with the highest level of stroke care possible.
Acute stroke care is time-sensitive, and comprehensive stroke centers can meet the metrics required to provide thrombolytics (IVT) or thrombectomy (EVT), which isn’t available at every hospital. These centers have prioritized resources and personnel to facilitate care more quickly, with access 24/7.
Comprehensive stroke center designation also encourages hospitals to keep improving— rearranging workflows, investing in resources and providing staff education—making stroke processes even better.
If you or a loved one has risk factors for stroke or has a history of strokes, getting to know your options before you need them can provide some peace of mind. Some questions to consider include:
Learning about what your nearest hospital can do can provide clarity as you make care decisions.
Related: Are strokes hereditary? What to do if strokes run in your family
As a system, Baylor Scott & White Health has multiple hospitals that are able to provide advanced stroke therapies. Many have earned national recognition in stroke care, as well as recognition for care of conditions related to stroke, like diabetes.
In 2026-2027, 13 Baylor Scott & White hospitals earned a High Performing rating in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals” for Stroke.
With Baylor Scott & White, you have access to a full network of stroke centers and specialists that work together to provide quality stroke care, from the emergency room through stroke recovery.
Along with multiple comprehensive stroke centers, the system provides telestroke capabilities for satellite centers, expanding access to stroke specialists.
As a system, Baylor Scott & White has standard processes and protocols in place so that care is coordinated and connected. For treatment, the system has interventional radiologists on the medical staff at hospitals in both Central Texas and North Texas who specialize in catheter-based procedures to treat stroke.
It also provides advanced imaging and testing capabilities to guide care decisions after an acute stroke, such as black-blood vessel wall MRI, loop recorders to monitor heart rate, and ultrasound-based tests like TC-DS and echocardiograms.
Stroke care continues well beyond the emergency room. From comprehensive workups in the days following a stroke to ongoing prevention and risk reduction, Baylor Scott & White has a range of services and programs to support recovery.
The system offers a network of centers with stroke rehabilitation programs, lifestyle education and resources, and follow-up care with stroke specialists.
The system also has several stroke support groups for stroke survivors and their caregivers, providing you with resources and connections to others going through a similar journey.
We’ve seen significant improvements in stroke care over the last decade, but in the next 10 or 20 years, we have the opportunity to keep getting better and better. There are still a lot of improvements we can make.
One area of stroke care that’s still in the budding stages is recovery. Right now, there’s nothing we can do to cause neurons to grow back after a stroke.
In the future, we may have medications and treatments available for stroke recovery that improve motor function and even regrow neurons. Over the last few years, there have been new stimulation devices created that work to activate nerves, showing some benefit in people with weakness after a stroke.
Improvements will also continue to expand who can benefit from thrombolytics (IVT) or thrombectomy (EVT). And while we’ve made progress in reducing the number of strokes that have an undetermined cause, 20% of strokes are still unknown in terms of the mechanism behind the stroke. Understanding those causes will help us personalize care.
With ongoing advances, we have an opportunity to expand access to treatments and connect people with the right interventions. That leads to more people who have access to acute stroke treatment, improved initial recovery after stroke and a better long-term quality of life.
Two of the hallmarks of a stroke are unilateral symptoms—meaning they only affect one side of the body—and a sudden onset.
If you recognize signs of a stroke in yourself or someone nearby, you should call 911 for immediate care.
The acronym BE FAST can help you remember what to watch for:
The faster you get emergency care for a stroke, the better. With today’s advances, we have interventions available that can help you and protect the neurons in your brain. But if you delay care, you may no longer be a candidate for these interventions.
While immediate treatment is critical, it’s still beneficial to seek care in the hours or days following a stroke, too. After a stroke, your risk of another stroke is higher. If you think you may have recently had a stroke, a complete workup at the hospital allows you to take steps to prevent another one from happening.
From immediate treatments to advanced diagnostics to follow-up care, improvements in stroke care over the last decade mean you have more options than ever to support your stroke recovery.
Learn more about stroke signs, treatments and support so you can connect with the right care for you.
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