Rosa Hart, a stroke certified registered nurse with the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses, describes new updates from the America Heart Association and the American Stroke Association’s January release of the 2026 Guideline for the Early Management of Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke. This guideline replaces the 2018-2019 guideline and updates. In the same month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified the top 5 causes of mortality in the United States and identified stroke as the 5th cause of death in the country. Stroke contributes to over 162,000 deaths annually and accounts for approximately 1 in 6 deaths from cardiovascular disease. It is one of the leading causes of long-term disability, occurring on average every 40 seconds.