The Stroke Prevention Patient Outcomes Research Team (PORT) is a five-year, multidisciplinary project designed to identify, evaluate and disseminate strategies for the secondary and tertiary prevention of ischemic stroke. The project has several major subcomponents: a formal literature review and synthesis; an analysis of the costs of specific diagnostic and therapeutic strategies; the identification of variations in clinical preventive practice through a national survey of physicians; an analysis of quality of life and patient preferences though a national computer assisted telephone survey of patients; the synthesis and development of recommendations through the use of both a formal decision/cost-effectiveness model and an expert consensus panel using a modified Delphi approach; and the dissemination of the recommendations through an intervention-demonstration trial. The Stroke PORT provides a formal structure for the evaluation and synthesis of complex interrelated levels of evidence for clinical stroke prevention strategies, a cost-benefit analysis, and a survey of patient and physician attitudes. The dissemination portion of the Stroke PORT remains in a planning phase awaiting the results of earlier parts of the project.