The results of an overview of early (90–240 min) and late (24 hours or more) patency and of stroke rates for each of the three commercially available thrombolytic agents, streptokinase, alteplase, and anistreplase are presented. Studies included in this analysis are all those published between 1985 and March 1992 and focus on the licensed dosage regimens of each agent. The rates of early and late patency for streptokinase were 64.7% and 80.8%; for alteplase, 66.6% and 73.7%; and for anistreplase, 72.1% and 84.5%. The rates of total and hemorrhagic stroke for streptokinase were 0.69% and 0.17%; for alteplase, 1.27% and 0.50%; and for anistreplase, 0.91% and 0.38%. These results provided evidence that the rates of early and late patency appeared to be greatest for anistreplase and that the rates of stroke are within “acceptable” ranges for all three thrombolytic agents with streptokinase affording the lowest