Abstract W MP28: Safety of Parentral Antiplatelet Regimen Within 24 Hours of Intravenous tPA Administration: Challenging the Conventional Paradigm
Background and Objective: It is considered unconventional to initiate antiplatelet regimen within 24 hours of IV tPa administration in acute ischemic strokes. There has been an increasing amount of literature assessing combination therapy of IV r- tPA and IV Eptifibatide in acute ischemic stroke. Our objectives were to evaluate the safety (hemorrhagic complications) and efficacy (discharge mRS) of administering IV Eptifibatide within the first 24 hours of receiving full dose IV r-tPA respectively. Materials and Methods: All patients that presented to our university affiliated stroke center from 2010-13 with an acute ischemic stroke were included and retrospectively classified into two groups. Group A underwent full dose IV r- tPa (.9 mg/kg) (+/- Endovascular intervention). Group B underwent full dose IV r-tPa (.9mg/kg) and IV Eptifibatide (+/- Endovascular intervention). Epitafibide was administered as a bolus of 135 mcg/kg IV followed by .5 mcg/kg/min for 20 hours. The primary endpoint of bleeding is classified as major (symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage or hemoglobin decrease by >5 mg/dl), minor (asymptomatic intracranial hemorrhage or hemoglobin decrease by 3-5 mg/dl) and insignificant as proposed by TIMI score. The efficacy endpoint was discharge mRS of 0-1 as favorable, with 2 and above being unfavorable. Results: We reviewed 2,016 patients with ischemic stroke, of which 170 received IV tPA. Among the group, 118 received IV r-tPa alone and 52 received combined modalities of IV r-tPa and IV Eptifibatide. In group A, there were 7 patients who had a major complication of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage, while 1 patient had a minor complication of asymptomatic intracranial hemorrhage. In group B, there were 3 patients who had major complication of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage and 5 with minor complications of asymptomatic intracranial hemorrhage. In group A , 9% (n=4) had a favorable outcome (OR=2.389, 95% CI 0.6645 to 8.589, p= 0.2217). Of the 52 patients in group B, 18% (n=8) had a favorable outcome. Conclusion: IV Eptifibatide, within the first 24 hours of ischemic stroke in combination with full dose IV r-tPA was found to be safe and efficacious. Further, larger prospective trials are needed to corroborate our findings.