Prospective pilot study of tirofiban in progressive stroke after intravenous thrombolysis.

Background: Intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) is a standard procedure for the treatment of patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Improving the therapeutic efficacy of IVT is an important task for neurologists. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of early low-dose tirofiban treatment in AIS patients with early neurological deterioration (END) after IVT. Methods: In this prospective and randomized pilot study, 73 AIS patients with END were recruited from a local hospital in China. Of these, 14 patients were treated with regular antiplatelet agents (aspirin plus clopidogrel) and 59 patients were treated with tirofiban within 24 h of IVT, followed by regular antiplatelet therapy. Neurological deficits and functional recovery were assessed with NIHSS and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at 7 and 90 days. During the 90-day follow-up period, both hemorrhagic (e.g., intracerebral hemorrhage) and non-hemorrhagic (e.g., pneumonia) events were recorded. Results: Treatment with tirofiban compared with regular antiplatelet therapy: (1) improved functional recovery of AIS patients to mRS (≤2) at both 7 and 90 days (odds ratios [ORs], 1.37 and 1.64; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.16-1.61 and 1.26-2.12; P = 0.008 and < 0.001, respectively), and (2) reduced NIHSS scores from 11.14 ± 2.38 to 5.95 ± 3.48 at day 7 (P < 0.001) and from 8.14 ± 2.74 to 4.08 ± 3.50 at day 90 (P < 0.001). Tirofiban treatment did not increase the risk of hemorrhagic complications. Multivariate regression analysis showed that tirofiban treatment independently predicted a favorable functional outcome (P ≤ 0.001). Conclusion: Early treatment with low-dose tirofiban in AIS patients with neurologic deterioration after IVT potentially improved functional recovery and attenuated neurologic deficits as early as 7 days and did not increase the risk of various hemorrhagic complications. However, the therapeutic efficacy of tirofiban treatment in END patients needs to be determined by future randomized clinical trials with a large study population. Clinical trial registration: http://www.chictr.org.cn/, Identifier ChiCTR2200058513.

Clinical Utility of the Inflammatory Factors Combined With Lipid Markers in the Diagnostic and Prognostic Assessment of Ischemic Stroke: Based on Logistic Regression Models.

BACKGROUND: In this study, we developed novel logistic regression models for the diagnostic and prognostic assessment of ischemic stroke. METHODS: A total of 288 ischemic stroke patients and 300 controls admitted to The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University were included in the testing group. Two validation groups from The Affiliated Kunshan Hospital of Jiangsu University and The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University were included to assess our novel assessment models. RESULTS: Results from the testing group indicated that the diagnostic assessment model for ischemic stroke prediction was: Logit(P) = 437.116 - 87.329 (Hypertension) - 89.700 (Smoking history) - 87.427 (Family history of ischemic stroke) - .090 (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C]) - 1.984 (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C]) - 17.005 (Lp(a)) - 15.486 (Apo A/Apo B), and the final prognostic assessment model of ischemic stroke was: Logit(P) = 458.437-92.343 (Hypertension) - 89.763 (Smoking history) + .251 (NLR) - .088 (HDL-C) - 1.994 (LDL-C) - 2.883 (hs-CRP) - .058 (IL-6) - 6.356 (TNF-α) - 16.485 (Lp(a)) - 17.658 (Apo A/Apo B). In the validation groups, our novel diagnostic assessment model showed good identification (with 87.5% sensitivity and 84.2% specificity in The Affiliated Kunshan Hospital of Jiangsu University, with 85.5% sensitivity and 89.0% specificity in The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University). Moreover, our novel prognostic assessment model has a high value in identifying poor prognosis patients in the validation groups from The Affiliated Kunshan Hospital of Jiangsu University (χ2 = 8.461, P = .004), and The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University (χ2 = 7.844, P = .005). CONCLUSIONS: The diagnostic and prognostic assessment models we have established are of great value in the diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of ischemic stroke.

Hyperfibrinogenemia is Significantly Associated with an Increased Risk of In-hospital Mortality in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients.

BACKGROUND: The impact of hyperfibrinogenemia on short-term outcomes after acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is still not well understood. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the association between hyperfibrinogenemia upon hospital admission and the short-term prognosis of AIS patients. METHODS: A total of 3,212 AIS patients enrolled from December 2013 to May 2014 across 22 hospitals in Suzhou city were included in the present study. Hyperfibrinogenemia was defined as having a serum fibrinogen＞4.0g/L. Cox proportional hazard and logistic regression models were used to estimate the effect of hyperfibrinogenemia on all-cause in-hospital mortality and poor discharge outcome (modified Rankin Scale score≥3) in AIS patients. RESULTS: During hospitalization, 106 patients (3.3%) died from all-cause and 1226 (38.2%) patients experienced poor functional outcome at discharge. Multivariable model adjusted for age, sex, baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, white blood cell count and other covariates, showed that hyperfibrinogenemia was associated with a 1.76-fold increase in the risk of in-hospital mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 1.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10-2.81; P-value=0.019). However, there was no significant association between hyperfibrinogenemia and poor outcome at discharge (adjusted odds ratios[OR]1.15; 95% CI 0.86-1.53; P-value=0.338). Sensitivity and subgroup analyses also confirmed a significant association between hyperfibrinogenemia and in-hospital mortality. CONCLUSION: In patients with AIS, hyperfibrinogenemia at the time of admission was independently associated with increased in-hospital mortality.