Background and purpose: We sought to investigate the feasibility of the combined use of low-dose recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) and tirofiban, a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa (GPIIb/IIIa) receptor antagonist, for systemic thrombolysis in acute stroke.
Methods: Consecutive patients who were treated with systemic application of low-dose rtPA and body weight-adjusted tirofiban (rtPA+T group; n=37) were evaluated retrospectively during 1999-2001. Patients in the rtPA+T group were compared with a group of patients treated with a dose of 0.9 mg/kg body weight in a different center (rtPA group; n=119). The 41 patients with infarctions of the middle cerebral artery territory who were not eligible for thrombolytic treatment because of medical contraindications or arrival in the hospital >3 hours after stroke onset served as controls. For matched comparisons, the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale on admission and the Rankin Scale on discharge 5 days after stroke were used.
Results: The patients treated with rtPA+T or rtPA improved (P<0.05) compared with the controls at discharge; patients in the rtPA+T and rtPA groups reached a Rankin Scale score of 0 to 2 in 63% and 55%, respectively, while only 16% of the controls achieved this score. Death rates (8% in rtPA+T group and 5% in rtPA group) were similar among the 2 treatment groups. They included 1 fatal hemorrhage in the rtPA+T group and 4 fatal hemorrhages in the rtPA group. Five percent of the untreated patients developed symptomatic, nonfatal cerebral hemorrhage.
Conclusions: Systemic combined thrombolysis with rtPA+T seems to be a feasible treatment in acute stroke.