Association of Intravenous Tirofiban with Functional Outcomes in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients with Acute Basilar Artery Occlusion Receiving Endovascular Thrombectomy

Cerebrovasc Dis. 2023;52(4):451-459. doi: 10.1159/000527483. Epub 2022 Dec 8.

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that intravenous tirofiban improves functional outcomes without promoting the risk of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) in stroke secondary to basilar artery occlusion (BAO) receiving endovascular thrombectomy.

Methods: Patients with acute BAO stroke who were treated with endovascular thrombectomy and had tirofiban treatment information were derived from "BASILAR": a nationwide, prospective registry. All eligible patients were divided into tirofiban and no-tirofiban groups according to whether tirofiban was used intravenously. The primary endpoint was the 90-day severity of disability as assessed by the modified Rankin scale score. Safety outcomes were the frequency of ICH and mortality.

Results: Of 645 patients included in this cohort, 363 were in the tirofiban group and 282 were in the no-tirofiban group. Thrombectomy with intravenous tirofiban reduced the 90-day disability level over the range of the modified Rankin scale (adjusted common odds ratio, 2.08; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.45-2.97; p < 0.001). The 90-day mortality of patients in the tirofiban group was lower than that in the no-tirofiban group (41.6% vs. 52.1%; adjusted hazard ratio, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.47-0.77; p < 0.001). The frequency of any ICH (6.7% vs. 13.7%; p = 0.004) and symptomatic ICH (4.8% vs. 10.1%; p = 0.01) in the tirofiban group was significantly lower than that in the no-tirofiban group.

Conclusions: In patients with acute BAO stroke who underwent endovascular treatment, intravenous tirofiban might be associated with favorable outcome, reduced mortality, and a decreased frequency of ICH.

Keywords: Acute ischemic stroke; Basilar artery occlusion; Endovascular treatment; Platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Basilar Artery
  • Humans
  • Intracranial Hemorrhages / chemically induced
  • Ischemic Stroke*
  • Stroke* / diagnostic imaging
  • Stroke* / therapy
  • Thrombectomy / adverse effects
  • Tirofiban / adverse effects
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Tirofiban

Grants and funding

The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 82001265 and 81901236), the Joint Medical Research Project of Chongqing Science and Health Commission (2020FYYX206), and the Natural Science Research Key Project of Higher Education of Anhui Province (No. KJ2020A0337). The funders/sponsors had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation, or writing this manuscript. The corresponding authors had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.