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[Systemic thrombolytic therapy with rt-PA in acute medial territory infarct. Experiences in routine clinical
P A Ringleb1, M Bertram, V Willig
1Neurologische Klinik, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg.
Background And Purpose:
Only a few clinical reports about the routine use of intravenous rt-PA for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke have been published. Wether the perfusion of the extracranial parts of the internal carotid artery influences the outcome of the patients is still unknown, because the two major studies about systemic thrombolytic therapy with rt-PA in stroke (ECASS and NINDS) did not formally assess the status of the extracranial vessels.
Methods:
56 Patients were treated with intravenous rt-PA within 6 h of acute ischemic stroke between January 1995 and May 1998. Before and within 24 h after the thrombolytic therapy usually a neurovascular diagnostic with extra- und transcranial Doppler-ultrasound or CT-angiography was performed. Occlusions of the intracranial parts of the internal carotid artery (Carotid-T) were excluded from thrombolytic therapy. The outcome was assessed using the Rankin-scale at least 3 month after the therapy.
Results:
The average time from stroke onset to administration of treatment was 3.7 h.A parenchymal hemorrhage with clinical deterioration was found in four patients (7.1%). Eight patients died until the follow-up (14.3%), four within 14 days. 39 patients showed a clinical improvement. Outcome and recanalization rate of the medial cerebral artery was not influenced by stenoses or occlusions of the extracranial internal carotid artery.
Conclusions:
Routine intravenous use of rt-PA for acute ischemic stroke shows safety comparable to the results of the NINDS study even in 6 h time window. The outcome and recanalization rate depends not on the perfusion of the extracranial parts of the internal carotid artery.