[Neuroradiologic therapy of stroke].

Cerebrovascular disease with consecutive stroke is the third leading cause of death, behind only heart disease and cancer. The cost to society, both directly in health care and indirectly in lost income, amounts to 15 billion Dollar in the USA. The leading cause of stroke is focal cerebral ischemia. The general approach to the acute stroke patient remains one of therapeutic nihilism, despite effective interventional neuroradiological methods such as local intraarterial fibrinolysis and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty. These methods can be applied in a narrow timeframe only. One case of successful treatment is presented. The effort should be the development of regionalized systems of early transfer to "stroke units" capable of providing the modern spectrum of acute care to stroke patients.