Stroke is ranked as the second-leading cause of death worldwide with an annual mortality rate of about 5.5 million. Not only does the burden of stroke lie in the high mortality, but the high morbidity also results in up to 50 per cent of survivors being chronically disabled. Every minute in which a large vessel ischemic stroke is untreated, the average patient loses 1.9 million neurons, 13.8 billion synapses, and 12km of axonal fibres. Each hour in which treatment fails to occur, the brain loses as many neurons as it does in almost 3.6 years of normal aging.