JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is known to improve outcomes in ischemic stroke; however, patients receiving long-term chronic warfarin therapy may face an increased risk for intracranial hemorrhage when treated with tPA. Although current guidelines endorse administering intravenous tPA to warfarin-treated patients if their international normalized ratio (INR) is 1.7 or lower, there are few data on safety of intravenous tPA in warfarin-treated patients in clinical practice. ⋯ Among patients with ischemic stroke, the use of intravenous tPA among warfarin-treated patients (INR ≤1.7) was not associated with increased sICH risk compared with non-warfarin-treated patients.