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Updated: Mar 23, 2026
Optimized Management of Endovascular Treatment for Acute Ischemic Stroke
Published on: January 18, 2018
Decision Making and the Limits of Evidence: A Case Study of Acute Stroke in Pregnancy
Matthew Boyko1, Daniela Iancu2, Howard Lesiuk2
1Faculty of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
We report the case of a pregnant woman treated for acute ischemic stroke and review the literature on acute stroke treatment in pregnancy. To our knowledge, this is the first case reporting the successful use of intravenous tissue plasminogen activator and a stent retriever for acute stroke in pregnancy. We then use this case to consider the way medical knowledge is used in therapeutic decision making and argue that decision making necessarily extends beyond the limits of clinical trial evidence.
We report the case of a pregnant woman treated for acute ischemic stroke and review the literature on acute stroke treatment in pregnancy. To our knowledge, this is the first case reporting the successful use of intravenous tissue plasminogen activator and a stent retriever for acute stroke in pregnancy. We then use this case to consider the way medical knowledge is used in therapeutic decision making and argue that decision making necessarily extends beyond the limits of clinical trial evidence.
