Intravenous Thrombolysis for Acute Mild Ischemic Stroke Patients: Higher ABCD2 Score Associated with Better Outcome
Abstract Background: Up to 30% of patients with mild ischemic stroke suffer neurologic deterioration. However, optimal medical approaches of such patients remain controversial given the efficacy and safety of intravenous thrombolysis (IVT). The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether patients with acute mild stroke stratified with ABCD2 score (the risk of stroke on basis of age, blood pressure, clinical features, duration of symptoms, and presence of diabetes mellitus) could benefit from IVT. Methods: Among 3321 patients with a final diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke, we retrospectively included 224 patients identified with acute mild neurologic deficits (National Institution of Health Stroke Scale, NIHSS ≤5) treated with or without IVT. Odds ratios (OR) with their confidence intervals (CI) for outcomes between groups were assessed by using multivariable binary logistic regression analyses. And the heterogeneity of treatment effect magnitude for excellent outcome at 90d (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] 0-1) was estimated in different subgroups. Results: A total of 224 cases were enrolled, 106 receiving IVT and 118 treated with secondary stroke prevention strategies alone. At 7d, 30 (28.3%) patients with IVT treatment versus 16 (13.6%) patients not receiving IVT achieved significant improvement (≥4-point NIHSS score decrease or complete resolution; OR, 2.448; 95%CI, 1.204-4.977; P=0.013). At 90d, excellent outcome was achieved in 83 (78.3%) patients treated with IVT versus 77 (65.35%) patients without IVT treatment (OR, 3.156; 95%CI, 1.526-6.528; P=0.002), especially in those with ABCD2 score ≥5 (OR, 2.768; 95%CI, 1.196-6.406; P=0.017) and with stroke subtype of large artery atherosclerosis (OR, 5.616; 95%CI, 1.080-29.210; P=0.040). Besides, 7(6.6%) IVT-treated patients versus 2 (1.7%) non-IVT-treated patients developed intracranial hemorrhage (ICH; P=0.359), among these only 1 (0.9%) was symptomatic ICH in IVT group. Conclusions: For acute mild ischemic stroke patients, we reassured the safety and especially the efficacy of IVT at 7- and 90-days. Patients with 5 or more of ABCD2 score and stroke subtype of large artery atherosclerosis might benefit more from IVT.