scholarly journals Efficacy and Safety of Intravenous Thrombolysis in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke and Pre–Existing Disability

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Merlino ◽  
Elisa Corazza ◽  
Simone Lorenzut ◽  
Gian Gigli ◽  
Daniela Cargnelutti ◽  
...  

Little is known about intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients with pre-existing disability. Disabled patients are often excluded from IVT treatment. Previous studies investigated the role of pre-existing disability on outcomes in AIS patients after IVT. However, no studies have been conducted to date to determine whether IVT may improve clinical outcomes in AIS patients with pre-existing disability. The aim of our study was to evaluate efficacy and safety of IVT in patients with pre-existing moderate and moderately severe disability (pre-stroke modified Rankin Scale score = 3 or 4) affected by AIS. This study was based on a retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected database of consecutive patients admitted to the Udine University Hospital with AIS from January 2015 to May 2018. The efficacy endpoints were the rate of favorable outcome and rate of major neurological improvement. The safety endpoints were the rate of mortality at three months, presence of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), and presence of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH). The study population included 110 AIS patients with pre-existing moderate and moderately severe disability, 36 of which received (IVT+) and 74 did not receive IVT (IVT−). AIS disabled patients treated with IVT had higher rates of favorable outcome (66.7% vs. 36.5%, p = 0.003) and major neurological improvement (39.4% vs. 17.4%, p = 0.01) compared to non-treated ones. Two in three disabled patients returned to their pre-stroke functional status when treated with IVT. Prevalence of three-month mortality, ICH, and sICH did not differ in the two groups. Disabled patients affected by AIS significantly improved after IVT. Moderate and moderately severe disability alone should not be considered, per se, as a contraindication to IVT treatment.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingxin Cai ◽  
Xiaobo Yu ◽  
Jun Yu ◽  
Jing Xu ◽  
Liang Xu ◽  
...  

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of tirofiban for patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS), especially posterior circulation stroke (PCS).Methods: We enrolled consecutive patients with AIS who suffered large artery occlusion (LAO) and underwent mechanical thrombectomy (MT) between January 2016 and May 2020. Patients were divided into two groups according to whether tirofiban was used during MT. The primary efficacy outcome was a favorable functional outcome, defined as a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 0–2 at 3 months. The safety outcomes were the rate of mortality at 3 months and the presence of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH). Cohorts were balanced using 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM). Subgroup analysis was further performed to compare the efficacy and safety of tirofiban between the anterior circulation stroke (ACS) and PCS groups.Results: A total of 292 patients were eligible for this study and divided into the tirofiban group (n = 51) and the no-tirofiban group (n = 241). In the propensity-score-matched cohort, the tirofiban group had a higher rate of favorable outcomes than the no-tirofiban group (49.0 vs. 25.5%, p = 0.014), and the mortality at 3 months showed a greater downward trend in the tirofiban group than the no-tirofiban group (15.6 vs. 33.3% p = 0.064). The risk of sICH and ICH was the same between the tirofiban and control groups (17.6 vs. 27.4% p = 0.236, 31.3 vs. 45.1% p = 0.154, respectively). Tirofiban use was predictive of favorable outcomes [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 2.87, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.52–6.44, p = 0.043] after multiple logistic regression analysis. Subgroup analysis revealed that tirofiban use was significantly associated with favorable outcomes in ACS (aOR = 3.66, 95% CI 1.24–5.22, p = 0.019) but not in PCS (aOR = 1.12, 95% CI 0.47–7.52, p = 0.570).Conclusion: We demonstrated that tirofiban may be associated with improving favorable outcome for the AIS patients who underwent MT, without increasing ICH or sICH. Furthermore, our results indicated that for PCS patients tirofiban may not be associated with favorable outcome, and more comprehensive randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm this finding.


Stroke ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luzma Cardona ◽  
Dolora Wisco ◽  
Shu-Mei Man ◽  
Pravin George ◽  
Esteban Cheng-Ching ◽  
...  

Background and Purpose: Intravenous thrombolysis is associated with early major neurologic improvement, which is reported to occur in about a quarter of patients after 24 hrs. The aim of the study is to evaluate the frequency and predictors of early major improvement in patient with ischemic stroke after undergoing acute intra-arterial therapy. Materials and methods: Prospective collected database of patients undergoing intra-arterial therapy for the acute ischemic stroke from January 2008 to December 2011 was reviewed. The NIHSS was used to assess severity of stroke in patients upon admission, 24 hrs after procedure and at hospital discharge. Major neurological improvement was defined as improvement of NIHSS by more or equal to 8 or absolute NIHSS of 0 or 1. Arterial recanalization was defined as thrombolysis in cerebral infarction grade 2b or 3. Favorable outcome was defined as modified Rankin scale of 0-2 at 1 month and 3 months. Demographic and radiographic data were collected. Results: MNI was seen in 28 out of 138 (20%) of patients at 24 hours but was not associated with a 30 day or 90 day favorable outcome. MNI at discharge was seen in 47 of 148 (31%) patients and was associated with a 30 day and 90 day favorable outcomes of 0-2 on mRankin (Odds Ratio (OR) : 9.1, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.7-22.5). Recanalization was associated with MNI at 24 hours (OR 3.1, 95% CI: 1.2-7.9) and MNI at discharge (OR 2.8, 95% CI: 1.3-6.0). Among pre-treatment variables, MNI at discharge was associated with imaging by pre-treatment Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (median 9 with MNI, 8 without MNI, p=0.03) and time to treatment (median 5.2 hours with MNI v 7.2 hours without MNI, p<0.01). Age and baseline NIHSS were not associated with MNI. In a logistic regression model, favorable outcome at 90 days was independently associated with baseline NIHSS and MNI at discharge. Conclusions: MNI after intra-arterial therapy was seen in about a quarter of patients and was associated with higher CT ASPECT scores, time to therapy, and arterial recanalization. MNI at discharge was an independent predictor of long term outcome.


Biomolecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 347
Author(s):  
Zsuzsa Bagoly ◽  
Barbara Baráth ◽  
Rita Orbán-Kálmándi ◽  
István Szegedi ◽  
Réka Bogáti ◽  
...  

Cross-linking of α2-plasmin inhibitor (α2-PI) to fibrin by activated factor XIII (FXIIIa) is essential for the inhibition of fibrinolysis. Little is known about the factors modifying α2-PI incorporation into the fibrin clot and whether the extent of incorporation has clinical consequences. Herein we calculated the extent of α2-PI incorporation by measuring α2-PI antigen levels from plasma and serum obtained after clotting the plasma by thrombin and Ca2+. The modifying effect of FXIII was studied by spiking of FXIII-A-deficient plasma with purified plasma FXIII. Fibrinogen, FXIII, α2-PI incorporation, in vitro clot-lysis, soluble fibroblast activation protein and α2-PI p.Arg6Trp polymorphism were measured from samples of 57 acute ischemic stroke patients obtained before thrombolysis and of 26 healthy controls. Increasing FXIII levels even at levels above the upper limit of normal increased α2-PI incorporation into the fibrin clot. α2-PI incorporation of controls and patients with good outcomes did not differ significantly (49.4 ± 4.6% vs. 47.4 ± 6.7%, p = 1.000), however it was significantly lower in patients suffering post-lysis intracranial hemorrhage (37.3 ± 14.0%, p = 0.004). In conclusion, increased FXIII levels resulted in elevated incorporation of α2-PI into fibrin clots. In stroke patients undergoing intravenous thrombolysis treatment, α2-PI incorporation shows an association with the outcome of therapy, particularly with thrombolysis-associated intracranial hemorrhage.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Merlino ◽  
Carmelo Smeralda ◽  
Gian Luigi Gigli ◽  
Simone Lorenzut ◽  
Sara Pez ◽  
...  

AbstractTo date, very few studies focused their attention on efficacy and safety of recanalisation therapy in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients with cancer, reporting conflicting results. We retrospectively analysed data from our database of consecutive patients admitted to the Udine University Hospital with AIS that were treated with recanalisation therapy, i.e. intravenous thrombolysis (IVT), mechanical thrombectomy (MT), and bridging therapy, from January 2015 to December 2019. We compared 3-month dependency, 3-month mortality, and symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage (SICH) occurrence of patients with active cancer (AC) and remote cancer (RC) with that of patients without cancer (WC) undergoing recanalisation therapy for AIS. Patients were followed up for 3 months. Among the 613 AIS patients included in the study, 79 patients (12.9%) had either AC (n = 46; 7.5%) or RC (n = 33; 5.4%). Although AC patients, when treated with IVT, had a significantly increased risk of 3-month mortality [odds ratio (OR) 6.97, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.42–20.07, p = 0.001] than WC patients, stroke-related deaths did not differ between AC and WC patients (30% vs. 28.8%, p = 0.939). There were no significant differences between AC and WC patients, when treated with MT ± IVT, regarding 3-month dependency, 3-month mortality and SICH. Functional independence, mortality, and SICH were similar between RC and WC patients. In conclusion, recanalisation therapy might be used in AIS patients with nonmetastatic AC and with RC. Further studies are needed to explore the outcome of AIS patients with metastatic cancer undergoing recanalisation therapy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaohua Xie ◽  
Jie Yang ◽  
Lijie Ren ◽  
Shiyu Hu ◽  
Wancheng Lian ◽  
...  

Background: Symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) is a serious hemorrhagic complication after intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients. Most existing predictive scoring systems were derived from Western countries Objective: To develop a nomogram to predict the possibility of sICH after IVT in an Asian population. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included AIS patients treated with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) in a tertiary hospital in Shenzhen, China, from January 2014 to December 2020. The end point was sICH within 36 hours of IVT treatment. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify risk factors of sICH, and a predictive nomogram was developed. Area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC), calibration curve, and decision curve analyses were performed. The nomogram was validated by bootstrap resampling Results: Data on a total of 462 patients were collected, of whom 20 patients (4.3%) developed sICH. In the multivariate logistic regression model, the National Institute of Health stroke scale scores (NIHSS) (odds ratio [OR], 1.14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06–1.23, P < 0.001), onset to treatment time (OTT) (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.01–1.03, P < 0.001), neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (OR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.09–1.35, P < 0.001), and cardioembolism (OR, 3.74; 95% CI, 1.23–11.39, P = 0.020) were independent predictors for sICH and were used to construct a nomogram. Our nomogram exhibited favorable discrimination ability [AUC, 0.878; specificity, 87.35%; and sensitivity, 73.81%]. Bootstrapping for 500 repetitions was performed to further validate the nomogram. The AUC of the bootstrap model was 0.877 (95% CI: 0.823–0.922). The calibration curve exhibited good fit and calibration. The decision curve revealed good positive net benefits and clinical effects Conclusion: The nomogram consisted of the predictors NIHSS, OTT, NLR, and cardioembolism could be used as an auxiliary tool to predict the individual risk of sICH in Chinese AIS patients after IVT. Further external verification among more diverse patient populations is needed to demonstrate the accuracy of the model’s predictions.


Stroke ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikito Hayakawa ◽  
Masatoshi Koga ◽  
Shoichiro Sato ◽  
Shoji Arihiro ◽  
Yoshiaki Shiokawa ◽  
...  

Objective: Although intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) using alteplase for octogenarians with acute ischemic stroke becomes relatively familiar, it is unclear whether IVT for nonagenarians is a futile intervention. The purpose of this study is to clarify the efficacy and safety of IVT using low-dose alteplase (0.6 mg/kg) for nonagenarians compared with octogenarians. Methods: Stroke Acute Management with Urgent Risk-factor Assessment and Improvement (SAMURAI) rtPA registry retrospectively collected 600 consecutive acute stroke patients receiving IVT from 10 Japanese stroke centers between October 2005 and July 2008. We extracted all octogenarians (O group) and nonagenarians (N group) from the registry. We compared baseline characteristics, symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (SICH), and 3-month outcomes between the groups. 3-month outcomes include; functional independence (FI) defined as a mRS score 0-2, good outcome (GO) as a mRS score 0-2 or same as the premorbid mRS, poor outcome (PO) defined as a mRS score 5-6, and death. Results: Twenty-five nonagenarians (mean age, 93 years) and 124 octogenarians (mean age, 84 years) were included. N group was more female-predominant (76% versus 56%, p=0.06) and premorbidly dependent (44% versus 14%, p<0.001) than O group. There were no significant differences of median baseline NIHSS score (16 versus 14, p=0.95) and Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (9 versus 9, p=0.36) between the groups. The rate of FI tended to be lower in N group than O group (16% versus 36%, p=0.06), otherwise, the differences of the rates of GO (28% versus 37%, p=0.39), PO (40% versus 36%, p=0.73), death (20% versus 11%, p=0.23) and SICH (0% versus 2.4%, p=1.00) were not significant between the groups. In comparison with O group, N group was not associated with 3-month clinical outcomes (FI; OR 0.61; 95% CI, 0.15-2.42, GO; 0.98; 0.31-3.07, PO; 0.63; 0.15-2.70, death; 3.18; 0.62-16.3) and SICH (0.68; 0.17-2.69) after multivariate adjustment. Conclusions: IVT using low-dose alteplase for N group resulted in less frequent achievement of FI mainly because of more premorbid dependency than O group, however, showed at least a similar safety and a potential efficacy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 164
Author(s):  
Shiva Prasad Jagini ◽  
Suresh I.

Background: Stroke patients are at highest risk death in the first few weeks after the event, and between 20-50% die within first month depending on type, severity, age, co-morbidities and effectiveness of treatment of complications. Objective of this study was to clinical profile of patients with acute ischemic stroke receiving intravenous thrombolysis (rtPA-alteplase).Methods: Prospective Observational study of 26 cases of acute ischemic stroke receiving IV thrombolysis using rtPA-alteplase at Kovai Medical Centre Hospital, Coimbatore over a period of 1 year 9 months.Results: 21 cases had NIHSS score of range 10 to 22. The mean NIHSS score at admission is 13.5. 15 subjects (57.7%) had achieved primary outcome in this study. MRS Score of 0 to 2 is considered as favorable outcome. In this study 20 subjects (76.92 %) had favorable outcome at the end of 3 months.Conclusions: Majority of the patients receiving rtPA-alteplase had favorable outcome.


Stroke ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mushtaq H Qureshi ◽  
Shayaan M Khan ◽  
Nauman Jahangir ◽  
Ahmed A Malik ◽  
Melissa Freese ◽  
...  

Background: The number of acute ischemic stroke patients who are on both aspirin and clopidogrel treatment at time of acute ischemic event is increasing. There is limited data regarding the safety and efficacy of intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) treatment in such patients. Methods: We reviewed the medical records and imaging data of consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke who received IV rt-PA within 4.5 hours of symptom onset. We stratified the patients based on active regular use of antiplatelet medications: monotherapy (aspirin or clopidogrel), combination therapy (aspirin and clopidogrel), and no therapy and compared the rates of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), neurological improvement (≥4 points in National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS], and favorable outcome (modified Rankin scale [mRS] 0-1) at discharge between the three groups. Results: A total of 88 acute ischemic stroke patients (mean age±SD; 69.88 ±15) were treated with IV rt-PA within the study duration. Of the 88 patients 45 (50.6%), 37 (41.6%), and 52 (58.4) were on monotherapy, combination therapy, or no therapy at time of presentation. The proportion of patients who developed symptomatic ICHs were similar (p=0.8) in monotherapy, combination therapy, and no therapy groups (3.3%, 0.0%, and 4.1%, respectively). The rates of neurological improvement were greater in patients on monotherapy (20%) (p=0.03) followed by combination therapy (11.1%), and no therapy groups (2.0%). There was no significant reduction in the rate of favorable outcome at discharge among patients on combination treatment compared with no treatment (odds ratio 0.8 , 95% confidence interval 0.4-1.8 ) after adjusting for age and initial NIHSS score strata (<10, 10-19, and ≥20). Conclusions: Compared with patients on no antiplatelet treatment, acute ischemic stroke patients who are actively using aspirin and clopidogrel appear to have similar risks and benefits with IV rt-PA treatment.


Stroke ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard L Yeo ◽  
Liang Shen ◽  
Ben Wakerley ◽  
Aftab Ahmad ◽  
Kay W Ng ◽  
...  

Background: Intravenously administered tissue plasminogen activator (IV-TPA) remains the only approved therapeutic agent for arterial recanalization in acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Wide variations in the rates and timing of neurological recovery are observed in thrombolyzed patients. While all IV-TPA treated patients are routinely evaluated for neurological recovery at 24-hours, considerable improvement occurs in some cases within 2-hours of treatment initiation. We evaluated whether early neurological improvement at 2-hours after IV-TPA bolus (ENI-2) can predict functional outcomes in thrombolyzed AIS patients at 3-months. Methods: Data for consecutive stroke patients treated with IV-TPA within 4.5 hours of symptom-onset during 2007-2010 were prospectively entered in the thrombolyzed registry maintained at our tertiary care center. Data were collected for demographic characteristics, vascular risk factors, stroke subtypes and blood pressure levels before IV-TPA bolus. National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores were obtained before IV-TPA bolus and at 2-hours. ENI-2 was defined as a reduction in NIHSS score by more than 10-points from baseline score or an absolute score of 4-points or less at 2-hours after IV-TPA bolus. Functional outcomes at 3-months were determined by modified Rankin scale (mRS). Data were analyzed by SPSS 19.0. Results: Of the 2238 AIS patients admitted during the study period, 240 (11%) received IV-TPA within 4.5-hours of symptom-onset. Median age was 65yrs (range 19-92), 63% males, median NIHSS 17points (range 3-35) and median onset-to-treatment time 149 minutes. Overall, 122 (50.8%) patients achieved favorable functional outcome (mRS 0-1) at 3-months. Factors associated with favorable outcome at 3-months on univariable analysis were younger age, female gender, presence of atrial fibrillation, baseline NIHSS, onset-to-treatment time (OTT) and ENI-2. However, multivariable analysis demonstrated NIHSS at onset (OR per 1-point increase 0.907, 95%CI 0.848-0.969) and ENI-2 (OR 4.926 95%CI 1.66-15.15) as independent predictors of favorable outcome at 3-months. Conclusion: Early Neurological improvement at 2-hours after IV-TPA bolus is a strong predictor of the functional outcome at 3-months in acute ischemic stroke patients.


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