I remember the early trials of thrombolytics; not for stroke but for MI. During my residency, we were still comparing tPA with streptokinase. It was pretty incredible stuff. Now we’ve moved beyond that positively “medieval” method of treating heart attacks and have advanced to incredible interventions in coronary and cerebrovascular disease.

Furthermore, we are able to rescue more and more people from the brink of death with advanced medications and with techniques, like ECMO, that our medical forebears couldn’t even imagine. These days, people can say things like: “I had severe sepsis last year, but I recovered,” or “A few years ago I nearly died of stage 4 cancer, but here I am!” Fifty years ago, twenty years ago, their families would have told their stories with sadness.

For the full article, please visit Emergency Medicine News.

Edwin Leap is an emergency physician who blogs at edwinleap.com and is the author of the Practice Test and Life in Emergistan.  This article originally appeared in Emergency Medicine News.

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