Wow, this is a complex and extensive issue! We use it quite a lot in big vessel occlusion because of several reasons, including potential anti-inflammatory effects of unfractionated heparin. Must be said, we have a very accurate weight-adjusted heparin administration protocol and we avoid hypertension when using heparin. There you have some short articles by Angel Chamorro discussing these issues:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18778842

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11853820

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11157200

Generally aspirin, sometimes heparin are the anticoagulant used in the stroke therapy. Aspirin reduces the risk of early recurrent ischemic stroke when given within 48 hours of the onset of stroke but increases the risk of hemorrhagic stroke. Overall, for aspirin, there is a slight, but statistically significant benefit in reducing recurrent stroke. Conversely, unfractionated heparin and LMW heparin/heparinoids, when used within 48 hours of onset in patients with acute ischemic stroke, have not been shown to reduce the rate of stroke recurrence. there are some researched carried about the anticoagulant in acute ischemic stroke and there are some debate as well. If you go through following articles then I thought THEY WOULD BE HELPFUL TO YOU. AND THE LINKS ARE

http://www.strokecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Anticoagulation-in-Acute-Ischemic-Stroke.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18843603

http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/37/12/3052.full

http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/33/7/1934.full

http://www.aan.com/professionals/practice/guidelines/pda/Anticoagulants_stroke.pdf

http://www.aan.com/professionals/practice/guidelines/pda/Anticoagulants_stroke.pdf

http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/37/12/3056.full