Changes in coagulation and fibrinolytic system after local intra-arterial thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke

Intracerebral hemorrhagic transformation is one of the most important complications of thrombolytic therapy for acute ischemic stroke. The relationship between changes in markers for the coagulation and fibrinolytic systems and occurrence of hemorrhagic transformation was determined after local intra-arterial thrombolytic therapy using urokinase (UK) (24 patients) or recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) (10 patients) within 6 hours of onset. All 34 patients had no hypodensity areas on initial computed tomography scans. Plasma concentrations of fibrinogen-fibrin degradation products (FDP), fibrinogen, alpha 2-plasmin inhibitor (alpha 2-PI), plasmin-alpha 2 plasmin inhibitor complex (PIC), thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT), and D-dimer were measured. Hemorrhagic transformation occurred in seven patients (21%) with complete or partial recanalization; four in the UK group and three in the t-PA group. Doses of the thrombolytic agents did not correlate with the incidence of hemorrhagic transformation. The FDP levels in the hemorrhagic transformation group treated with UK significantly increased immediately and 1 hour after the therapy. The alpha 2-PI activities decreased and PIC levels increased in both the hemorrhagic transformation and the nonhemorrhagic groups after the therapy. The TAT levels in both groups tended to be higher than the normal range, but there was no significant difference from the pretreatment levels. The D-dimer levels in the hemorrhagic transformation group were higher than those in the nonhemorrhagic group at 24 hours after the therapy. Furthermore, the D-dimer levels were significantly higher in patients with complete recanalization compared with those with none or partial recanalization.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)