New Trends in Diagnosis and Management of Stroke

It might appear bold to publish the proceedings of yet another sym posium on the diagnosis and management of stroke. However, I hope in selecting topics to reflect 'new trends' and in inviting speakers to discuss these trends and the related concepts and results, that we have been suc cessful in attaining a high level of scholarship as well as in appealing to a wide readership. The central issues here derive from a new typology of strokes that should replace the obsolete distinction based on purely temporal param eters so aptly criticized by Caplan. A classification of strokes on the basis of pathogenesis requires a synopsis of information gained from history, neurological and cardiovascular findings, ultrasound studies (ex tracranial as well as transcranial), correctly timed CT scan investigation and, if necessary, from selective angiography. Only the recognition of the role of pathogenetic events for a patient permits the application of a ra tional therapy regimen.