Guideline updates for intravenous thrombolysis and head position
The latest updates to the Australian and New Zealand living stroke guidelines includes a new recommendation for head positioning in patients with confirmed acute large vessel occlusion. Based on the new ZODIAC trial, these patients can be managed in zero degrees head positioning prior to thrombectomy.
The intravenous thrombolysis topic has had a minor wording update due to the omission of the word “unless” in the weak recommendation related to administration of Tenecteplase in the 9-to-24-hour timeframe.
These updates were approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) on 24 April 2026.
The Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management continue to follow a living-evidence approach, where monthly searches for new research evidence feed into 6-monthly reviews and updates where appropriate.
For further updates, we suggest you regularly check our Living guidelines updates.
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