Abstract W P52: Safety of Intravenous Thrombolysis (IVT) in Stroke Mimics: A Prospective Five-year Study and Comprehensive Meta-analysis of Reported Case Series

Abstract

Background&Purpose: Shortening door-to-needle time may lead to intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) administration in stroke mimics (SM). We sought to determine safety of IVT in SM using prospective, single-center data and by conducting a comprehensive meta-analysis of reported case series. Subjects&Methods: We analyzed consecutive IVT-treated patients during a 5-year period (2009-2013) at a tertiary care stroke center. Non-contrast head CT, NIHSS pre-treatment and modified Rankin scores (mRS) at discharge were obtained as standard of care. SM was defined as no acute ischemic lesions on MRI and the final non-stroke diagnosis established by radiologists and treating physicians unaware of the purposes of this study. Symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH) was defined as imaging evidence of ICH with NIHSS increase of 4 or more points. Functional independence (FI) was defined as mRS 0-1. We also conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of all available case-series reporting safety of IVT in SM using PRISMA guidelines. Results: Of 516 consecutive IVT patients at our tertiary care center (50% men; mean age 60±14years; median NIHSS 11, range 3-22), SM comprised 75 cases (14.5%, 95%CI by adjusted wald method: 11.7%-17.9%). sICH occurred in one patient (1.3%; 95%CI:0%-7.9%), while we documented no cases of orolingual edema (OE) or major extracranial hemorrhagic complications (0%; 95%CI:0%-4.2%). Two patients experienced minor extra-cranial hemorrhagic complications (1 case of gingival & 1 case of nose bleeding). Meta-analysis of 9 studies including 8,942 patients treated with IVT and reporting safety outcomes in 392 SM showed pooled rates of sICH and OE 0.5% (95%CI: 0%-2%) and 0.3% (95%CI: 0%-2%) respectively. We documented no heterogeneity between estimates of sICH (I squared statistic=0%; p=0.941 Cohran Q test), and OE (I squared statistic=0%; p=0.913 Cohran Q test). Conclusions: Our prospectively collected data coupled with the findings of the comprehensive meta-analysis underscore the safety of IVT in SM given the low prevalence of hemorrhagic and systemic complications and the lack of heterogeneity across reported case-series.