Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (HUVH) is the only Spanish center that participates and the hospital which provides more patients in Europe to this global study on the effectiveness of new endovascular treatments in patients with ischemic stroke, published at "http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1214300" New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The study, which has not shown a clear superiority of endovascular treatments towards the conventional t-PA treatments, offers relevant information about the subgroups of patients that could benefit from these treatments and how can they be identified with complementary explorations. In the study, called IMS3 (International Management of Stroke), have participated 656 patients from 58 centers from the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. Dr. Marc Ribó, neurologist and neurointerventionist at Vall d’Hebron, has coordinated the project in the Catalan hospital, together with Carlos Molina, head of the Stroke Unit, as a member of the executive committee. Ischemic stroke, an abrupt occlusion of a cerebral artery, is one of the main causes of death in Catalonia and Spain, and the first cause of permanent disability. At the moment, the only effective treatment demonstrated is the use of t-PA drug (an inhibitor of the tissue plasminogen activator), that administrated during the first hours after the appearance of the symptoms, in some cases destroys the thrombus which has caused the occlusion, the reperfusion injury and the reversion of the symptoms. However, in many cases, the t-PA doesn’t achieve its purpose, so it is crucial to study therapeutic alternatives. The proved in this study, the endovascular treatment, is based on the access with a catheter through the vessels until arriving to the cerebral artery where is located the thrombus, and then proceeding to its extraction. In the clinical trial, researchers divided in two groups the patients who have received intravenous t-PA during the three hours after the first symptoms: one group received additional endovascular therapy, and the other one, just the conventional t-PA treatment. The IMS3 has not shown a clear superiority of endovascular treatment towards the conventional t-PA treatment, but has opened a new research line about the subgroups of patients than could benefit from these treatments, as well as how can they be identified with complementary explorations. Although it has not been demonstrated that new treatments are more effective, there are several factors that let researchers be optimists because the information obtained through this study and the appearance of new catheters with a higher profile of security and efficacy, has open the door to new clinical trials, which have already started with the participation of Vall d’Hebron. Another important conclusion from this study is the confirmation that every 30 minutes of delay in the access to the treatment, the possibilities of functional recovery are reduced a 10%.