The Earlier The Treatment Of Stroke Begins, The Better The Prognosis Of The Condition In A Year

The earlier the treatment of stroke begins, the better the prognosis of the condition in a year

The study assessed for the first time the long-term effects of early initiation of thrombolytic therapy. Early initiation of treatment reduces the risk of not only death, but also readmission after a year.

A patient with suspected stroke / Photo: Shane T. McCoy

The shorter the time from ischemic stroke to the initiation of thrombolytic therapy, the better the prognosis for patients: they live longer and are less likely to be admitted to hospital again. In a new study, published in JAMA, scientists are assessing for the first time how long-term patient outcomes depend on when treatment is started.

The gold standard for acute stroke care is recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rTAP) infusion. Its main function is to dissolve blood clots in the arteries. It was well known in the past that the health status of the patient in the near future depends on how quickly such treatment was started. In a new study, American scientists assessed long-term patient outcomes for the first time.

The study showed that patients who received rTAP treatment for stroke later than 45 minutes later died more often within a year than those who received the drug earlier (35% versus 30.8%). In addition, those who receive treatment later are more likely to be admitted to the hospital again.

Within a 90-minute window after stroke, delaying the initiation of intensive thrombolytic therapy every 15 minutes increases the risk of death from any cause by 4% and readmission by 2%.

For the study, the researchers analyzed the relationship between treatment initiation time and disease outcomes one year later for nearly 61,500 patients who had an ischemic stroke between 2006 and 2016.