Thrombolysis

Intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) in patients with a low National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score of 0–5 remains controversial. IVT should be used in patients with mild but nevertheless disabling symptoms. We hypothesize that response to IVT of patients with “mild stroke” may depend on their level of functional dependence (FD) at hospital admission. The aims of our study were to investigate the effect of IVT and to explore the role of FD in influencing the response to IVT. This study was a retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected database, including 389 patients stratified into patients receiving IVT (IVT+) and not receiving IVT (IVT −) just because of mild symptoms. Barthel index (BI) at admission was used to assess FD, dividing subjects with BI score < 80 (FD+) and with BI score ≥ 80 (FD−). The efficacy endpoints were the rate of positive disability outcome (DO+) (3-month mRS score of 0 or 1), and the rate of positive functional outcome (FO+) (mRS score ...

Time is the key factor in brain survivability in acute stroke treatment.1The therapeutic
effects of intravenous recombinant tissue Plasminogen Activator (IV rtPA) are highly dependent on time.1-3 Stroke patients presenting within the first 60 minutes, or the golden hour, are the
most likely to benefit from recanalization therapy.1-3 Thus, making rapid clinical and imaging
evaluation of stroke patients of upmost importance and very difficult to complete within the
golden hour time window. Based on Get with the Guidelines-Stroke Program (April 2003 to
October 2009), less than one-third of patients treated with IV rtPA have door-to-needle times
of less than 60 minutes.

Background: In patients with acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pharmacomechanical catheter-directed thrombolysis (PCDT) in conjunction with anticoagulation therapy is increasingly used with the goal of preventing postthrombotic syndrome. Long-term costs and cost-effectiveness of these 2 treatment strategies from the perspective of the US healthcare system have not been compared. Methods and Results: Between 2009 and 2014, the ATTRACT trial (Acute Venous Thrombosis: Thrombus Removal With Adjunctive Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis) randomized 692 patients with acute proximal DVT to PCDT plus anticoagulation (n=337) or standard treatment with anticoagulation alone (n=355). Costs (2017 US dollars) were assessed over a 24-month follow-up period using a combination of resource-based costing, hospital bills, Medicare reimbursement rates, and the Drug Topics Red Book. Health state utilities were obtained from the Short Form-36. In-trial results and US life tables were used to develop a Marko...

Current thrombolytic therapy is essentially synonymous with
high dose tPA administered iv for 90 minutes. This treatment has
had only limited success in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) [1-3],
and consequently has more recently been replaced by percutaneous
coronary intervention (PCI) as the treatment of choice in AMI [4].
Although PCI delays coronary reperfusion, better clinical outcomes
than with tPA were nevertheless obtained [5]. In the treatment of
ischemic stroke, a tPA dose reduction was required due to a 20%
intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) incidence when the AMI dose was
used [6]. Dose reduction diminished the thrombolytic effect and
resulted in a reperfusion rate of only about 30% [7], and a 7%
incidence of symptomatic ICH remained [8]. As in AMI, PCI is now
being used increasingly in stroke

Intravenous infusion of alteplase is used for thrombolysis before endovascular thrombectomy for ischemic stroke. Tenecteplase, which is more fibrin-specific and has longer activity than alteplase, is given as a bolus and may increase the incidence of vascular reperfusion. We randomly assigned patients with ischemic stroke who had occlusion of the internal carotid, basilar, or middle cerebral artery and who were eligible to undergo thrombectomy to receive tenecteplase (at a dose of 0.25 mg per kilogram of body weight; maximum dose, 25 mg) or alteplase (at a dose of 0.9 mg per kilogram; maximum dose, 90 mg) within 4.5 hours after symptom onset. The primary outcome was reperfusion of greater than 50% of the involved ischemic territory or an absence of retrievable thrombus at the time of the initial angiographic assessment. Noninferiority of tenecteplase was tested, followed by superiority. Secondary outcomes included the modified Rankin scale score (on a scale from 0 [no neurologic def...

Background and Purpose— Little is known about the effect of thrombolysis in patients with preexisting disability. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of different levels of prestroke disability on patients’ profile and outcome after intravenous thrombolysis. Methods— We analyzed the data of all stroke patients admitted between October 2003 and December 2011 that were contributed to the Safe Implementation of Treatments in Stroke–Eastern Europe (SITS-EAST) registry. Patients with no prestroke disability at all (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] score, 0) were used as a reference in multivariable logistic regression. Results— Of 7250 patients, 5995 (82%) had prestroke mRS 0, 791 (11%) had prestroke mRS 1, 293 (4%) had prestroke mRS 2, and 171 (2%) had prestroke mRS ≥3. Compared with patients with mRS 0, all other groups were older, had more comorbidities, and more severe neurological deficit on admission. There was no clear association between preexisting disability and the risk of symptomat...

Introduction In patients with stroke attributable to cervical artery dissection, we compared endovascular therapy to intravenous thrombolysis regarding three-month outcome, recanalisation and complications. Materials and methods In a multicentre intravenous thrombolysis/endovascular therapy-register-based cohort study, all consecutive cervical artery dissection patients with intracranial artery occlusion treated within 6 h were eligible for analysis. Endovascular therapy patients (with or without prior intravenous thrombolysis) were compared to intravenous thrombolysis patients regarding (i) excellent three-month outcome (modified Rankin Scale score 0–1), (ii) symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage, (iii) recanalisation of the occluded intracranial artery and (iv) death. Upon a systematic literature review, we performed a meta-analysis comparing endovascular therapy to intravenous thrombolysis in cervical artery dissection patients regarding three-month outcome using a random-effects ...

There have been major advances during the past decade in stroke diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. Of these, intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is currently the only approval medical therapy for acute ischemic stroke within a 3-hour window (1,2) , and is recommended by most acute stroke treatment guidelines, including Taiwan Guidelines for the Management of Stroke (3) . Postmarketing surveys have demonstrated that intravenous tPA can be administered appropriately in a wide variety of hospitals setting. Recently, a large observational study (SITS-MOST) showed that intravenous tPA is safe and effective in routine clinical use for acute ischemic stroke within 3 hours, even by hospitals with little previous experience of thrombolytic therapy for acute ischemic stroke

The use of oral anticoagulation treatment (OAT) in patients with an international normalized ratio (INR) higher than 1.7 is a contraindication to thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke. The aim of the present study is to compare the use of point-of-care (POC) coagulometers to the standard coagulation analysis (SCA) procedure of the INR as a decision-making test for use with patients taking OAT. Method: Eighty patients on chronic OAT underwent a POC and an SCA during a regular outpatient evaluation. Results: When comparing the abilities of the POC test and the SCA test to identify adequate levels for thrombolysis (≤1.7), the POC had a sensitivity of 96.6% (95%CI 88.4-99.1) and a specificity of 60.0% (95%CI 38.6-78). POC overestimated INR levels by 0.51 points compared to the SCA test. Conclusion: POC has a high sensitivity compared to the SCA test for the identification of patients within the cut-off point for thrombolysis.