Increased Serum Alkaline Phosphatase as a Predictor of Symptomatic Hemorrhagic Transformation in Ischemic Stroke Patients with Atrial Fibrillation and/or Rheumatic Heart Disease

Abstract

Elevated alkaline phosphatase (ALP) is considered as a marker of liver function in clinical practice. Furthermore, it has been identified that liver function can contribute to hemorrhagic transformation (HT). However, whether ALP levels play a role in HT after stroke remains an open question, especially in cardioembolic stroke patients. We prospectively and consecutively enrolled ischemic stroke patients with atrial fibrillation and/or rheumatic heart disease. Baseline data including ALP levels within 48 hours after admission were collected. ALP levels were divided into tertiles. The presence of HT, hemorrhagic infarction (HI), parenchymal hematoma (PH), and symptomatic HT was evaluated according to brain magnetic resonance imaging and European-Australasian Acute Stroke Study III definitions. We used logistic regression to examine the associations between ALP levels and risk of HT, HI, PH, and symptomatic HT. Of the 130 patients (56 male; mean age: 63 years) included finally, 50 (38.5%) developed HT and 13 (10.0%) developed symptomatic HT. ALP levels were not associated with risk of HT, HI, and PH. However, compared with the first ALP tertile, patients in the third tertile were 8.96 times more likely to have symptomatic HT (95% confidence interval: 1.33-60.21; P = .02) after adjusting for age, gender, alanine aminotransferase levels, aspartate aminotransferase levels, antiplatelet therapy, anticoagulation therapy, and thrombolysis therapy. Elevated ALP levels may help identify high-risk symptomatic HT in ischemic stroke patients with atrial fibrillation and/or rheumatic heart disease. However, further studies with larger cohorts are needed to identify our results.