scholarly journals Stroke outcomes in Thai elderly patients treated with and without intravenous thrombolysis

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pornpatr A. Dharmasaroja ◽  
Sombat Muengtaweepongsa ◽  
Junya Pattaraarchachai ◽  
Permphan Dharmasaroja

Higher mortality was found in very old patients with acute ischemic stroke treated with intravenous recombinant tissue-plasminogen activator (rtPA) as compared to younger patients. The benefit of thrombolytic treatment in this particular subgroup is still a subject of debate. The purpose of this study was to compare stroke outcomes in Thai patients aged over 70 years treated with and without intravenous rtPA. This was a retrospective review of sequential cases and was not a randomized controlled study. One-hundred and five patients with acute ischemic stroke aged over 70 years who were treated with intravenous rtPA and 105 patients without rtPA treatment (control group) were included in the study. Patients’ base-line characteristics and study outcomes of interest were compared. There were significant differences in the base-line characteristics of the two groups. However, for the subgroup of patients aged over 80 years, these characteristics were similar. Those who were treated with intravenous rtPA had a higher rate of favorable outcomes (40% <em>vs</em> 16%; P=0.137) and a lower rate of mortality (22% <em>vs</em> 44%; P=0.128) than patients who did not receive rtPA treatment. In well-matched subgroups of patients aged over 80 years, our retrospective review revealed there was a trend of a higher rate of favorable outcome and lower mortality in patients receiving rtPA treatment. More study is needed to further confirm the suggested benefit of thrombolysis in Asian octogenarian acute stroke patients.

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Chen ◽  
Fu-Liang Zhang ◽  
Shan Lv ◽  
Hang Jin ◽  
Yun Luo ◽  
...  

Objective:: Increased leukocyte count are positively associated with poor outcomes and all-cause mortality in coronary heart disease, cancer, and ischemic stroke. The role of leukocyte count in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) remains important. We aimed to investigate the association between admission leukocyte count before thrombolysis with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) and 3-month outcomes in AIS patients. Methods:: This retrospective study included consecutive AIS patients who received intravenous (IV) rt-PA within 4.5 h of symptom onset between January 2016 and December 2018. We assessed outcomes including short-term hemorrhagic transformation (HT), 3-month mortality, and functional independence (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] score of 0–2 or 0–1). Results:: Among 579 patients who received IV rt-PA, 77 (13.3%) exhibited HT at 24 h, 43 (7.4%) died within 3 months, and 211 (36.4%) exhibited functional independence (mRS score: 0–2). Multivariable logistic regression revealed admission leukocyte count as an independent predictor of good and excellent outcomes at 3 months. Each 1-point increase in admission leukocyte count increased the odds of poor outcomes at 3 months by 7.6% (mRS score: 3–6, odds ratio (OR): 1.076, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.003–1.154, p=0.041) and 7.8% (mRS score: 2–6, OR: 1.078, 95% CI: 1.006–1.154, p=0.033). Multivariable regression analysis revealed no association between HT and 3-month mortality. Admission neutrophil and lymphocyte count were not associated with 3-month functional outcomes or 3-month mortality. Conclusion:: Lower admission leukocyte count independently predicts good and excellent outcomes at 3 months in AIS patients undergoing rt-PA treatment.


Author(s):  
Kavian Ghandehari

Thrombolysis with administration of intravenous (IV) recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) has been performed in some tertiary care hospitals in Iran in recent decade. Mininstery of Health and Medical Education of Iran approved a new management strategy which covers the cost of Alteplase since 2015. This is a great advance in increasing chance for Iranian stroke patients to get the treatment. Delay in performing triage and CT and laboratory tests is another limiting factor which can be decreased by defining special team members for thrombolysis. Most of the Iranian neurologists are not expert for performing the management. This limitation can be managed by continous thrombolysis work shops. However many of the Neurologists may not be interested to do the thrombolysis due to its risks and lack of financial benefits for responsible doctor.  Most of the contraindications for thrombolysis with tPA originated as exclusion criteria in famous clinical trials. These were derived from expert consensus for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) trial. Despite the fact that the safety and efficacy of IV rtPA has been repeatedly confirmed in large international observational studies over the past 20 years, most patients with acute ischemic stroke  still do not receive thrombolytic treatment. Some of the original exclusion criteria have proven to be unnecessarily restrictive in real-world clinical practice. It has been suggested that application of relaxed exclusion criteria might increase the IV thrombolysis rate up to 20% with comparable outcomes to thrombolysis with more conventional criteria. We review the absolute and relative contraindications to IV rtPA for acute ischemic stroke, discussing the underlying rationale and evidence supporting these exclusion criteria. There are two therapeutic strategies for selecting the contraindications and exclusion criteria. Flexible method is ignoring some absolute or partial exclusion critera as illustrated above. This method will increase the probability of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage and death and may increase  numbers of legal condemnations for treating physician. Rigid method is prohibition of violations from standard protocols of thrombolysis which decreases both numbers of managed patients and thrombolysis contraindications. Physicians who prefer the first therapeutic strategy refer to data of published articles and guidelines of American and European stroke societies. There are two points of view; first, the Iranian neurologists do not have thrombolysis experience as well as western neurologusts. For instance very limited number of Iranian neurologists have enough experience for detection of ASPECT score. Second, due to some social factors number of legal condemnations  due to medical malpractice has been hugely increased in recent two decades in Iran. Based on these points second strategy is more wise for Iranian neurologists. The speaker has made a standard protocol of thrombolysis based on international gudelines and his experience. This standard protocol which is designed according to the rigid method is available by search in Google engine and is provided in Persian language.  


2013 ◽  
pp. 160-165
Author(s):  
Fabiola Maioli ◽  
Gaetano Procaccianti ◽  
Valeria Nativio ◽  
Giorgia Arnone ◽  
Roberto Nardi ◽  
...  

The incidence of ischemic stroke rises exponentially with age, with a steep increase in the age interval between 75 and 85 years. Thrombolytic therapy restores cerebral blood flow in patients with acute ischemic stroke of any etiology by using drugs that dissolve blood clots. Infusion for 1 h of alteplase at the dose of 0.9 mg/kg within 3 h of the start of the symptoms is associated to a 30% increase in the likelihood of gaining a favorable outcome with respect to placebo. There is strong evidence that selected patients with ischemic stroke may benefit from intravenous thrombolysis when treated within 3 h. The aim of the study was to evaluate available evidence for the efficacy and safety of thrombolytic therapy in patients with ischemic stroke aged 80 years and over. Compared to younger stroke patients treated with thrombolytic therapy, those aged 80 years and over have higher acute mortality due to symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage. However, functional outcome at six months is significantly better for over-80-year-olds than younger patients. There is a need for screening tools that take into account pre-stroke functional and cognitive status that are able to identify those over-80-year-old patients with ischemic stroke who can most benefit from thrombolytic treatment. Available evidence supports further recruitment of oldest-old patients into ongoing trials of thrombolysis.


Author(s):  
Zhenzhen Rao ◽  
Zixiao Li ◽  
Hongqiu Gu ◽  
Yilong Wang ◽  
Yongjun Wang

Background: Intravenous Thrombolysis with Recombinant Tissue Plasminogen Activator (rt-PA) availability at Chinese hospitals varies and may affect care quality for acute ischemic stroke patients. Limited research has shown whether there were differences in quality of care at China National Stroke Registry (CNSR II) hospitals based on rt-PA capability. Methods: For acute ischemic stroke patients admitted to CNSR II hospitals between 2012 and 2013, care quality at hospitals with or without Intravenous rt-PA capability was examined by evaluating conformity with performance and quality measures. The primary outcome was guideline-concordant care, defined as compliance with 10 predefined individual guideline-recommended performance metrics and composite score. A composite score was defined as the total number of interventions actually performed among eligible patients divided by the total number of recommended interventions among eligible patients. Propensity score matching was used to balance the baseline characteristics. We used cox model with shared frailty model and logistic regression with generalized estimating equation to compare the relationship between hospitals with rt-PA capability and hospitals without rt-PA on quality measures. Results: This study included 19604 acute ischemic stroke patients admitted to 219 CNSR II hospitals. Before matching, there were 7928 patients admitted to 86 (40.4%) hospitals with rt-PA capability and 11676 patients admitted to 133 (59.6%) hospitals without rt-PA capability. After matching, 7606 pairs of patients in rt-PA-capable hospitals and rt-PA-incapable hospitals were analyzed. Before matching, the composite score of guideline-concordant process of care was higher at hospitals with rt-PA capability than hospitals without rt-PA capability (74% versus 73%, P=0.0126). Hospitals with rt-PA capability were more likely to perform deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis within 48 hours of admission, dysphagia screening, assessment or receiving of rehabilitation, discharge antithrombotic, anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation and medications for lowering low-density lipoprotein (LDL) ≥100mg/dL. But hospitals with rt-PA capability were less likely to perform antithrombotic medication within 48 hours of admission and hypoglycemic therapy at discharge for patients with diabetes. After matching, differences of stroke care quality between hospitals with rt-PA capability and without rt-PA capability still exist after adjusting covariates. Conclusions: The CNSR II hospitals were associated with better performance in some of the hospitals but not all of them. The difference in conformity between rt-PA-capable hospitals and rt-PA-incapable hospitals was modest for performance measures of stroke care. However, more room for improvement still exists in key quality performance measures and further studies should be explored.


2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 117-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Po-Jen Hsu ◽  
Chih-Hao Chen ◽  
Shin-Joe Yeh ◽  
Li-Kai Tsai ◽  
Sung-Chun Tang ◽  
...  

Background: D-dimer is a fibrin degradation product and a possible marker of thromboembolic events. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between D-dimer levels and outcome in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients receiving intravenous thrombolysis. Methods: This retrospective study included AIS patients who received intravenous thrombolysis with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) and provided plasma D-dimer level within 24 h after stroke onset during 2009 and 2014 at a single medical center. Unfavorable outcome was defined as modified Rankin scale ≥3 at 3 months after stroke. Symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) was defined as a deterioration of at least 4 points on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale within 36 h post thrombolysis. Results: Of 347 patients receiving intravenous rt-PA, 159 (mean age 67.6 ± 13.1 year, 59.7% male) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. In univariate analysis, patients with unfavorable outcome (n = 79) had significantly higher levels of D-dimer than those with favorable outcome (median ln D-dimer = 1.4 vs. 0.7 μg/ml, p < 0.001). After adjustment for clinical variables, a higher level of D-dimer remained significantly associated with an unfavorable outcome (OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.27-2.86, p = 0.002) and the occurrence of symptomatic ICH (OR 2.97, 95% CI 1.15-7.70, p = 0.025). Conclusion: The D-dimer level within 24 h after stroke onset can be an early outcome indicator in AIS patients receiving rt-PA therapy.


2011 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. E10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason S. Day ◽  
Michael C. Hurley ◽  
Mohamad Chmayssani ◽  
Rudy J. Rahme ◽  
Mark J. Alberts ◽  
...  

Object Endovascular treatment of acute ischemic stroke delivers direct therapy at the site of an occluded cerebral artery and can be employed beyond the 3–4.5-hour window limit set for intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator. In this paper, the authors report their experience with various endovascular therapies in acute ischemic stroke. Methods The authors conducted a retrospective review of their clinical database for acute ischemic stroke in large-vessel cerebral territories that underwent endovascular treatment between May 2005 and February 2009. Endovascular treatment was defined as pharmacological and/or mechanical intervention, angioplasty, stenting, or a combination of these methods. Admission National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and the modified Rankin Scale scores were recorded. Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) scores of 0, 1, 2A, 2B, and 3 were used to define recanalization. Results Forty procedures were performed in 39 patients, with 1 patient having sequential bilateral strokes. Nine patients were lost to follow-up after discharge. Strokes in the carotid artery circulation occurred in 82.5% of cases, and those in the vertebral-basilar territory occurred in 17.5%. The Merci device was used in 22 (55%) of 40 procedures, and the Penumbra device in 9 (22.5%) of 40. Angioplasty was performed in 15 (37.5%) of 40 procedures, and intraarterial recombinant tissue plasminogen activator was administered in 23 (57.5%) of 40 procedures. In 23 (57.5%) of 40 cases, multiple recanalization methods were used. The recanalization rate for all methods was 60%. The recanalization rate from TIMI Score 0/1 occlusions was 71.4% (20 of 28). An estimated modified Rankin Scale score of ≤ 2 was obtained in 11 (36.7%) of 30 cases. The overall mortality rate was 26.7% (8 of 30). Intracerebral hemorrhage at 24 hours postprocedure was noted in 17 (42.5%) of 40 cases, 3 (7.5%) of which were symptomatic. Conclusions The authors' institution performs endovascular stroke treatment with a safety and efficacy profile comparable to those of other major endovascular stroke therapy studies. Recanalization was associated with an improved clinical outcome. Protocols to maximize efficient triage of patients and better documentation of stroke treatments can assist in further studies.


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