Background: rt-PA intravenous thrombolytic therapy and its efficacy have been widely recognized and proved for strokes. However, for patients with wake-up ischemic stroke (WUIS), they lose the opportunity to receive rt-PA intravenous thrombolytic therapy because of the difficulty of determining the onset time window.
Aim: This study is aimed at investigating the intravenous thrombolytic therapy of WUIS guided by rapid MRI.
Methods: Data were collected from patients with acute ischemic stroke within 4.5 h and from WUIS patients with uncertain onset time window, who received the treatment of rt-PA intravenous thrombolytic therapy in our hospital from November 2006 to April 2018. The improved Rankin scale was used to evaluate neurological function recovery. According to the Rankin scale score, patients were divided into two groups: those with good prognosis (modified Rankin scale [mRS] score 0-1) and those with poor prognosis (mRS score 2-6).
Results: A total of 253 patients received rt-PA intravenous thrombolysis after head MRI evaluation; this included 177 cases of acute ischemic stroke and 76 cases of WUIS (which contains 2 death cases, 0.8% mortality; 3 cases of symptomatic bleeding, 1.2% bleeding rate; and 5 cases of aggravation, 2.0% aggravation rate). There was no statistical difference between the baseline data from the acute ischemic stroke patients with 4.5 h onset time window and the baseline data from the WUIS patients with undetermined onset time window, when the treatment was guided by rapid MRI. There were also no significant statistical differences in National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, Rankin scale score, symptomatic bleeding, death and aggravation of the disease between the 2 groups at 24 h, 3 days, and 7 days after admission (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: According to the characteristic of undetermined onset time window of WUIS, more WUIS patients would be benefited from the rt-PA intravenous thrombolytic treatment when it is conducted under the guidance of rapid MRI.
Keywords: Acute ischemic stroke; Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator; Time window; Wake-up ischemic strokes.
© 2019 S. Karger AG, Basel.