As soon as a patient develops symptoms such as slanting of the mouth, weakness or slurred speech or severe headache, or confusion, the exact time of onset should be remembered. Then, the patient should be taken to a competent (both medical and interventional as well as surgical treatment) hospital as soon as possible. The first few hours are crucial for the patient’s treatment, “time is brain, time is life”. If a reasonable treatment is applied in the shortest possible time, the disability and mortality rate of the patient can be effectively reduced. After arriving at the hospital, the first step is to perform a cranial CT examination to determine whether there is a brain hemorrhage. Relevant laboratory tests should also be performed to lay the foundation for further treatment. If the cranial CT examination does not show bleeding and other causes and contraindications are ruled out, timely opening of occluded blood vessels is the most important treatment after considering an ischemic stroke. Intravenous alteplase (rt-PA) thrombolysis is usually given within a 4.5-hour “time window” to open the vessel. After 4.5 hours, the risk of intracranial hemorrhage due to intravenous thrombolysis increases, and the physician may use interventional methods such as contact arterial thrombolysis, stenting, mechanical fragmentation (supplemented by arterial thrombolysis as appropriate) and mechanical interventional embolization to open the vessel according to the patient’s specific situation. This reduces the risk of drug-induced intracranial hemorrhage and expands the “time window” for treatment. If a cranial CT shows a brain hemorrhage, the cause should be analyzed. In patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage, attention should be paid to the possibility of intracranial aneurysm rupture. Angiography should be performed to clarify the presence or absence of an aneurysm. If there is an aneurysm then embolization should be performed within 72 hours of bleeding if possible to avoid rebleeding. In conclusion, acute stroke patients should be taken to hospital as soon as possible after the onset of the disease and treated according to the patient’s specific situation; the shorter the time, the less damage the patient will suffer and the lower the rate of disability and death.