Outcome after intravenous thrombolysis in patients with acute lacunar stroke: An observational study based on SITS international registry and a meta-analysis

• Intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) for lacunar stroke (LS) is debated, as the underlying pathophysiological mechanism may not be thrombogenic. Aims To investigate outcomes after IVT in LS in the SITS International Stroke Thrombolysis Register and perform a meta-analysis. Methods LS was identified by both baseline NIHSS-subscores and discharge ICD-10 codes, and contrasted by IVT to non-IVT treated. IVT patients were predominantly from Europe, non-IVT patients predominantly from South America and Asia. Outcome measurements were functional independence (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] score ≤2), excellent outcome (mRS ≤ 1), and mortality at three months. Matched-control comparisons of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (SICH) between IVT-treated LS and IVT-treated non-LS patients were performed. Additionally, we performed a meta-analysis. Results Median age for IVT-treated LS patients ( n = 4610) was 66 years vs. 64 years and NIHSS score was 6 vs. 3, compared to non-IVT-treated LS ( n = 1221). Univariate outcomes did not differ; however, IVT-treated LS patients had higher adjusted odds ratios (aOR) for functional independence (aOR = 1.65, 95% CI = 1.28–2.13) but similar mortality at three months (aOR = 0.57, 0.29–1.13) than non-IVT-LS. Propensity-score matched analysis showed that IVT-treated LS patients had a 7.1% higher chance of functional independency than non-IVT LS patients ( p < 0.001). IVT-treated LS patients had lower odds for SICH (aOR = 0.33, 0.19–0.58 per SITS, aOR = 0.40, 0.27–0.57 per ECASS-2) than matched non-LS controls, which was mirrored in the meta-analysis. Conclusions Our adjusted results show that IVT treatment in LS patients was associated with better functional outcome than non-IVT-treated LS and less SICH than IVT-treated non-LS patients.

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