A meta-analysis was performed to assess randomized controlled trials comparing local endovascular therapy (with and without intravenous thrombolysis) versus standard care (intravenous thrombolysis alone when appropriate) for acute ischemic stroke. Local endovascular therapy showed a significant improvement in functional independence versus standard care (odds ratio, 1.779; 95% confidence interv...

Intravenous thrombolysis with recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (intravenous tPA) has been the only approved therapy for acute ischemic stroke for almost 20 years. Recently, a new era in acute stroke treatment has begun: 5 randomized controlled trials have consistently shown that endovascular clot retrieval in addition to best medical treatment (±intravenous tPA) improves outcome in...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Efforts to increase the availability and shorten the time delivery of intravenous thrombolysis in patients with acute ischemic stroke carry the potential for tissue plasminogen activator administration in patients with diseases other than stroke, that is, stroke mimics (SMs). We aimed to determine safety and to describe outcomes of intravenous thrombolysis in SM. METHOD...

Cardiac myxoma is a rare but curable cause of ischemic stroke. Current guidelines do not address the use of intravenous thrombolysis for embolic stroke caused by cardiac myxoma. The risk of hemorrhage due to occult tumor emboli or microaneurysms is a major concern. We describe a 45-year-old man who had an embolic stroke in the left middle cerebral artery. The initial National Institutes of Heal...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Obesity is an established risk factor for stroke and has reached epidemic proportions. However, its impact on intravenous thrombolysis applied for acute ischemic stroke is not well known. We aimed to compare the clinical outcome and safety after intravenous thrombolysis in obese (body mass index ≥30 kg/m²) and nonobese (body mass index <30 kg/m²) patients with ischemic st...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the safety and efficacy of stroke thrombolysis in a local hospital. DESIGN Historical cohort study. SETTING A tertiary hospital in Hong Kong. PATIENTS The outcome of acute ischaemic stroke patients treated with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator between October 2008 and May 2011 was compared to those admitted during the same period who were thrombolysis-elig...