Intravenous thrombolysis prior to endovascular treatment for acute ischemic stroke: a meta-analysis

Whether intravenous thrombolysis provides additional benefits before direct endovascular treatment (dEVT) in acute ischemic stroke remains unclear. We aimed to compare the functional and safety outcomes of dEVT to endovascular treatment with bridging using intravenous thrombolysis (BT) in acute ischemic stroke.

This meta-analysis included currently available eligible randomized clinical trials (RCTs) by searching in the PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register, and the International Stroke Conference and European Stroke Organisation Conference posted abstracts.

The six included RCTs yielded 2334 participants (mean age, 69.8 years [SD, 11.4]; women, 44.3%; 1164 in dEVT group and 1170 in BT group). We found not significantly different 90-day functional outcomes of modified Rankin scale (mRS 0 - 2, odds ratio [OR] 0.93, 95%CI 0.79 - 1.09; mRS 0 - 1, OR 0.99, 95%CI 0.82 - 1.18), mortality (OR 1.08, 95%CI 0.86 - 1.35), and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (OR 0.72, 95%CI 0.49 - 1.07) for patients in dEVT and BT group. Patients treated with dEVT were less likely to experience successful recanalization (OR 0.72, 95%CI 0.57 - 0.92, p = 0.009) and any intracranial hemorrhage (OR 0.81, 95%CI 0.68 - 0.97, p = 0.02). There were no significant differences regarding procedural complications between the two groups.

This meta-analysis showed no significant differences in 90-day functional outcomes or mortality between dEVT and BT, but a lower possibility of successful recanalization and intracranial hemorrhage for dEVT.