Abstract WMP112: Safety and Efficacy of Intravenous Thrombolysis and Endovascular Therapy in Children with Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Although intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and endovascular therapy (EVT) are considered standard-of-care treatment of acute ischemic stroke in adults, safety and efficacy of these treatment modalities in children is unknown to date. We reviewed current literature and synthesized data on safety and efficacy of IVT and EVT in children with ischemic stroke. Methods: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of all available case series and observational studies that evaluated safety of IVT and EVT in pediatric stroke patients aged less than 18 years. We searched the electronic databases Medline, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar for eligible studies. Safety outcomes comprised any intracerebral hemorrhage post-treatment and in-hospital mortality. A random-effects model was used to compute pooled effect estimates and the I 2 statistic was used to assess heterogeneity. Our analysis complied with PRISMA statement. Results: We identified 152 records through database searching, of which only 3 studies with a total of 16,335 pediatric patients with ischemic stroke met our eligibility criteria. Of these studies, two explored safety of sole IVT and one combinatory IVT/EVT. In-hospital mortality rates were similar between pediatric stroke patients treated with either IVT or IVT/EVT and controls (odds ratio=0.85, 95%CI: 0.15-4.87; p=0.857), with moderate evidence of heterogeneity ( I 2 =64%). Risk of intracerebral hemorrhage was substantially increased in children receiving IVT (odds ratio=3.60, 95%CI: 1.66-7.80; p=0.001) compared with controls, with no evidence of heterogeneity ( I 2 =0%). Efficacy of revascularization therapies could not be analyzed due to lack of uniform outcome data in the included studies. Conclusions: Our synthesized data analysis revealed a substantial lack of evidence for acute revascularization treatment of children with ischemic stroke. While an increased risk of intracerebral hemorrhage related to IVT emerged in our analysis, further research is needed to elaborate these findings.