Intravenous thrombolysis for patients with in-hospital stroke onset: propensity-matched analysis from the Safe Implementation of Treatments in Stroke-East registry

Eur J Neurol. 2017 Dec;24(12):1493-1498. doi: 10.1111/ene.13450. Epub 2017 Oct 5.

Abstract

Background and purpose: Recent cross-sectional study data suggest that intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) in patients with in-hospital stroke (IHS) onset is associated with unfavorable functional outcomes at hospital discharge and in-hospital mortality compared to patients with out-of-hospital stroke (OHS) onset treated with IVT. We sought to compare outcomes between IVT-treated patients with IHS and OHS by analysing propensity-score-matched data from the Safe Implementation of Treatments in Stroke-East registry.

Methods: We compared the following outcomes for all propensity-score-matched patients: (i) symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage defined with the safe implementation of thrombolysis in stroke-monitoring study criteria, (ii) favorable functional outcome defined as a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 0-1 at 3 months, (iii) functional independence defined as an mRS score of 0-2 at 3 months and (iv) 3-month mortality.

Results: Out of a total of 19 077 IVT-treated patients with acute ischaemic stroke, 196 patients with IHS were matched to 5124 patients with OHS, with no differences in all baseline characteristics (P > 0.1). Patients with IHS had longer door-to-needle [90 (interquartile range, IQR, 60-140) vs. 65 (IQR, 47-95) min, P < 0.001] and door-to-imaging [40 (IQR, 20-90) vs. 24 (IQR, 15-35) min, P < 0.001] times compared with patients with OHS. No differences were detected in the rates of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (1.6% vs. 1.9%, P = 0.756), favorable functional outcome (46.4% vs. 42.3%, P = 0.257), functional independence (60.7% vs. 60.0%, P = 0.447) and mortality (14.3% vs. 15.1%, P = 0.764). The distribution of 3-month mRS scores was similar in the two groups (P = 0.273).

Conclusions: Our findings underline the safety and efficacy of IVT for IHS. They also underscore the potential of reducing in-hospital delays for timely tissue plasminogen activator delivery in patients with IHS.

Keywords: acute ischaemic stroke; door-to-needle time; in-hospital stroke; intravenous thrombolysis; onset-to-treatment time; stroke awareness.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Brain Ischemia / drug therapy*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • Fibrinolytic Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Hospitals
  • Humans
  • Infusions, Intravenous
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Propensity Score
  • Registries
  • Stroke / drug therapy*
  • Thrombolytic Therapy / methods*
  • Time-to-Treatment
  • Tissue Plasminogen Activator / therapeutic use*
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Fibrinolytic Agents
  • Tissue Plasminogen Activator