Background and purpose: Recent reports have suggested that a rapid assessment of pretreatment residual cerebral blood flow (CBF) could be used to optimize selection criteria for thrombolysis in patients with acute ischemic stroke to improve clinical outcome. We investigated retrospectively residual CBF and other clinical factors related to outcome at 6 months after intra-arterial thrombolysis by using multivariable analysis.
Methods: Seventy-six patients received intra-arterial thrombolysis within 6 hours of symptom onset. The multiple regression method was used to analyze associations between the modified Rankin scale (MRS) at 6 months after treatment and clinical factors including age, infarction type, duration of ischemia, dose of urokinase, degree of recanalization, hemorrhage, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score (NIHSSS), and residual CBF evaluated by pretreatment single-photon emission-computed tomography; these values were assessed with the use of the regional-to-cerebellar activity (R/CE) ratio of ischemic region to cerebellum and asymmetry index.
Results: MRS at 6 months was good (0 to 3) in 65% and poor (4 to 6) in 35%. Factors significantly related to MRS at 6 months were R/CE ratio (P<0.0001), NIHSSS at baseline and the following day (P<0.0001), cardioembolic infarction (P=0.0014), age (P=0.0074), and recanalization grade (P=0. 007). NIHSSS of >20, R/CE ratio of <0.35, cardioembolic infarction, incomplete recanalization (grade <3), and older age (>75 years) were determined to be significant independent predictors of poor outcome.
Conclusions: The residual CBF, neurological score at baseline and the following day, age, and recanalization grade correlated significantly with long-term outcome. The NIHSSS of >20 and R/CE ratio of <0.35 were determined to be significant independent predictors of poor outcome by multivariable analysis.