Severe ischemic stroke is characterized by severe neurological deficits, sometimes accompanied by cardiovascular and respiratory dysfunction, which could lead to severe disability and death. This article reviews the national and international trials of reperfusion treatment for severe ischemic stroke in recent 20 years, and summarizes relevant clinical guidelines and expert consensuses. In general, intravenous thrombolysis is not restricted for patients with severe neurological deficits, but should be cautiously considered for patients with large infarction. Patients with large vessel occlusion could benefit from endovascular treatment, and whilst prevention and treatment for brain edema are important for patients with very large infarction. For patients who have received reperfusion therapies, the target for the management of blood pressure should incorporate the status of recanalization and a stable level of blood pressure should be maintained.
Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of intravenous thrombolysis bridging endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) in patients with acute cardioembolic stroke. Methods We retrospectively included patients with cardioembolic stroke who were admitted within 24 h after onset of stroke symptoms and had received EVT in the Department of Neurology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University between January 2017 and December 2021. Based on whether they had received intravenous thrombolysis, the patients were divided into bridging therapy group and direct EVT group. The primary outcome was unfavorable outcome by 3 months, defined as a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 3 to 6. The secondary outcomes included intracranial hemorrhage during hospitalization and 3-month death. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to assess the treatment effect on the primary outcome after adjusting for confounding factors. Results A total of 285 patients were enrolled. Among them, 174 (61.1%) were female, the median age was 74 years (interquartile range 64-80 years), and the median time from stroke onset to admission was 4.0 h (interquartile range 3.0-5.0 h). Compared to patients in the direct EVT group (n=202), patients in the bridging therapy group (n=83) had a lower rate of unfavorable functional outcome (55.4% vs 68.3%, P=0.039) by 3 months, while the incidences of intracranial hemorrhage (47.0% vs. 39.6%, P=0.251) and 3-month death (20.5% vs. 30.7%, P=0.080) were comparable between the two groups. After adjusting for confounding factors, the bridging therapy improved 3-month functional outcomes over direct EVT [odds ratio=0.482, 95% confidence interval (0.249, 0.934), P=0.031]. Conclusion In patients with acute cardioembolic stroke, intravenous thrombolysis bridging endovascular treatment can significantly improve 3-month functional outcomes without increasing the risk of intracranial hemorrhage.
Objective To investigate the efficacy of systemic immune inflammation index (SII) at admission and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score immediately after thrombolysis on evaluating the short-term prognosis of neurological function in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) receiving intravenous thrombolysis. Methods Patients with AIS treated with intravenous thrombolysis in the Second People’s Hospital of Chengdu between March 2022 and March 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. The basic data of the patients, NIHSS score at emergency admission, NIHSS score immediately after thrombolysis, modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score 3 months after discharge, and laboratory data at admission were collected, and SII at admission was calculated. According to the mRS score 3 months after discharge, the patients were divided into the good prognosis group (mRS≤2) and the poor prognosis group (mRS>2). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to screen out the factors affecting the prognosis of patients, and the receiver operating characteristic curve was drawn to analyze the evaluation effect of SII at admission and NIHSS score immediately after thrombolysis on the poor prognosis of neurological function of patients in the short term. Results A total of 213 patients were enrolled, and the prognosis was poor in 88 patients. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, onset-to-needle time, uric acid at admission, SII at admission, fasting blood glucose after admission, and NIHSS score immediately after thrombolysis were independent risk factors for poor prognosis in AIS patients (P<0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of SII at admission for predicting poor prognosis was 0.715, the sensitivity was 55.7%, and the specificity was 84.0%. The AUC of NIHSS score immediately after thrombolysis for predicting poor prognosis of patients was 0.866, the sensitivity was 87.5%, and the specificity was 72.8%. The AUC of SII at admission combined with NIHSS score immediately after thrombolysis for predicting poor prognosis of patients was 0.875, the sensitivity was 84.1%, the specificity was 77.6%, the positive predictive value was 72.5%, and the negative predictive value was 87.4%. SII at admission was positively correlated with NIHSS score at emergency admission, NIHSS score immediately after thrombolysis, and mRS score 3 months after discharge (P<0.05). Conclusion SII at admission can predict the short-term prognosis of neurological function of patients with AIS after thrombolysis therapy, and the combination of SII at admission and NIHSS score immediately after thrombolysis can improve the prediction efficiency.