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Updated: Nov 18, 2025
Optimized Management of Endovascular Treatment for Acute Ischemic Stroke
Published on: January 18, 2018
Low-Dose vs Standard-Dose Alteplase in Acute Lacunar Ischemic Stroke: The ENCHANTED Trial
Zien Zhou1, Candice Delcourt1, Chao Xia1
1From The George Institute for Global Health, Faculty of Medicine (Z.Z., C.D., C.X., S. Yoshimura, C.C., T.T.-Y., A.M., X.C., M.L.H., M.W., J.C., C.S.A.), and South Western Clinical School (M.W.P.), University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia; Department of Radiology (Z.Z., J.X.), Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China; Department of Neurology (C.D., C.C., C.S.A.), Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney Health Partners; Sydney Medical School (C.D., C.C.), University of Sydney, Australia; Department of Neurosurgery (C.X.), West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; Department of Cerebrovascular Medicine (S. Yoshimura, T.T.-Y.), National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, Osaka; Department of Neurology and Neuroscience (T.T.-Y.), Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Science, Japan; Department of Neurology (S. You), the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China; The George Institute for Global Health, School of Public Health (M.W.), Imperial College, London; Department of Cardiovascular Sciences and NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Center (T.G.R.), University of Leicester, UK; Melbourne Brain Centre, Royal Melbourne Hospital University Department of Medicine (M.W.P.), University of Melbourne, Australia; Departments of Clinical Neurosciences and Radiology, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine (A.M.D.), University of Calgary, Canada; Westmead Applied Research Centre (R.I.L.), University of Sydney, Australia; Division of Neuroimaging Sciences, Edinburgh Imaging and Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences (G.M., J.M.W.), and UK Dementia Research Institute (J.M.W.), University of Edinburgh; and The George Institute China at Peking University Health Science Center (C.S.A.), Beijing, China.
Objective:
To determine any differential efficacy and safety of low- vs standard-dose IV alteplase for lacunar vs nonlacunar acute ischemic stroke (AIS), we performed post hoc analyzes from the Enhanced Control of Hypertension and Thrombolysis Stroke Study (ENCHANTED) alteplase dose arm.
Methods:
In a cohort of 3,297 ENCHANTED participants, we identified those with lacunar or nonlacunar AIS with different levels of confidence (definite/according to prespecified definitions based on clinical and adjudicated imaging findings. Logistic regression models were used to determine associations of lacunar AIS with 90-day outcomes (primary, modified Rankin Scale [mRS] scores 2-6; secondary, other mRS scores, intracerebral hemorrhage [ICH], and early neurologic deterioration or death) and treatment effects of low- vs standard-dose alteplase across lacunar and nonlacunar AIS with adjustment for baseline covariables.
Results:
Of 2,588 participants with available imaging and clinical data, we classified cases as definite/probable lacunar (n = 490) or nonlacunar AIS (n = 2,098) for primary analyses. Regardless of alteplase dose received, lacunar AIS participants had favorable functional (mRS 2-6, adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval] 0.60 [0.47-0.77]) and other clinical or safety outcomes compared to participants with nonlacunar AIS. Low-dose alteplase (versus standard) had no differential effect on functional outcomes (mRS 2-6, 1.04 [0.87-1.24]) but reduced the risk of symptomatic ICH in all included participants. There were no differential treatment effects of low- vs standard-dose alteplase on all outcomes across lacunar and nonlacunar AIS (all p interaction ≥0.07).
Conclusions:
We found no evidence from the ENCHANTED trial that low-dose alteplase had any advantages over standard dose for definite/probable lacunar AIS.
Classification Of Evidence:
This study provides Class II evidence that for patients with lacunar AIS, low-dose alteplase had no additional benefit or safety over standard-dose alteplase.
Clinical Trial Registration:
Clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT01422616.
