Preclinical evidence toward the use of ketamine for recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator-mediated thrombolysis under anesthesia or sedation.

Endovascular treatment of ischemic stroke usually involves recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (rtPA)-mediated thrombolysis in anesthetized patients. Paradoxically, differential influences of anesthetic agents on thrombolysis outcome remain unknown.