Field Administration of Stroke Therapy-Blood Pressure Lowering

This is an open, pilot, dose-escalation study of glyceryl trinitrate (GTN, Nitroglycerin) administered by paramedics in the field within 2 hours of symptom onset to 45 severely hypertensive stroke patients. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and physiologic efficacy of field-initiated glyceryl trinitrate in achieving modest reduction of blood pressure. Patients with acute stroke will be identified in the field by paramedics who have received training in basic and advanced cardiac life support, stroke recognition, and specific procedures relevant to the proposed study. Physician-investigators will obtain informed consent for each subject for study entry after cellular phone contact with paramedics. Paramedics will initiate antihypertensive treatment by applying transdermal GTN patch in the first two dose-tiers, and administering a single sublingual GTN metered spray followed by application of the transdermal system in the last dose tier. The sites involved in the study will be emergency medical services rescue ambulances and 8 receiving Stroke Center hospitals in Orange County, California, USA.