Abstract 103: Intravenous Thrombolysis for In-Hospital Ischemic Stroke in the Endovascular Era: Findings From the National Get With the Guidelines-Stroke Registry

Abstract

Introduction: A significant proportion of acute ischemic strokes occur while patients are hospitalized for other reasons. Limited data exist on the utilization of intravenous alteplase (IV tPA) for in-hospital stroke, particularly in the endovascular era. We compared temporal trends of IV tPA use, patient characteristics, process measures of quality, and outcomes for in-hospital versus community onset strokes in a national registry. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of Get With The Guidelines-Stroke (GTWG-Stroke) from January 2008 to June 2018 from 2,333 participating sites that included 2,428,178 patients with acute ischemic stroke. In-hospital onset was reported in 67,493 patients. We examined the association between stroke onset location, patient characteristics, comorbidities, treatment with IV tPA and unadjusted and adjusted functional outcomes (Table, standardized differences >10% for significance). Results: Of 67,493 patients with in-hospital onset stroke, 11,123 received IV tPA. The rate of IV tPA administration steadily increased, from 9.5% in 2008 to 20.7% in 2017 (p<0.001). Compared with patients with community-onset strokes who were treated with IV tPA, patients with in-hospital onset stroke had longer times to cranial imaging and administration of IV tPA. Patients with in-hospital onset stroke were less likely to be treated within 60 minutes of recognition, and at discharge, ambulate independently or go directly home. They were more likely to die or be discharged to hospice after adjusting for patient and hospital characteristics. Conclusions: In this national cohort, in-hospital onset strokes are increasingly treated with intravenous tPA in a period that spans the endovascular era. Compared with community-onset stroke, patients with in-hospital onset stroke had longer intervals to thrombolysis and worse outcomes. These data highlight opportunities to improve inpatient systems of stroke care further.