Intravenous Alteplase Treatment of Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients Exhibiting Mild Neurological Deficits

Alteplase is increasingly used for treating ischemic stroke cases with low NIHSS scores, but the guidelines and evidence regarding outcomes are lacking. So, the authors conducted an updated meta-analysis to better understand the effects of alteplase for the treatment of acute mild ischemic stroke. PubMed, Cochrane, EMBASE were systematically explored for all relevant investigations published as in September 2021. Study quality was assessed as per the Cochrane system criteria, and Stata 15.1 was utilised to carry out a meta-analysis. In total, 16 trials incorporating 5,846 patients were analysed (1,926 and 3,920 cases in the rt-PA and non-thrombolytic groups, respectively). The main outcome measure revealed that the treatment of rt-PA was correlated with better odds of a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 0-1 relating to the non-thrombolytic group (OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.02-1.23, p <0.05), and with moderate heterogeneity (I2 = 0.0%, p = 0.930). For the secondary study outcomes, symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage incidence was 4.46 times greater in the group of rt-PA, relating to the non-thrombolytic group (OR = 4.46, 95% CI = 2.75-7.23, p <0.001). There were no considerable differences in the mortality between the two groups (OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.39-1.03, p >0.05). No significant heterogeneity was detected in secondary study outcomes. Subgroup analysis showed that the function outcomes was the best within 3-4.5 hours; and the risk and mortality of sICH were the lowest within 3-4.5 hours. Intravenous rt-PA administration is associated with improved functional outcomes at three months after the stroke in mild ischemic stroke patients. Key Words: Acute ischemic stroke, Mild, Alteplase, Meta-analysis.