title: Lessons learned from 2 years experience in intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke in a single tertiary medical center.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Intravenous tissue plasminogen activator has been approved treatment for acute (< or = 3 hours) ischemic stroke in Israel since late 2004. The Israeli experience with IV tPA is still limited. Several factors may influence the response to IV thrombolysis, including time-to-treatment parameters and tandem internal carotid artery/middle cerebral artery stenosis/occlusion.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare our experience with IV tPA treatment of patients with acute ischemic stroke to the findings of the SITS-MOST (Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke-MOnitoring STudy, international data) and of the Sheba Medical Center (national data) and to compare the early outcome among patients with ischemic stroke in the MCA with and without severe ICA stenosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We obtained demographic data, timing details, stroke severity, hemorrhagic complications, mortality, and early outcome from the records of IV tPA-treated acute ischemic stroke patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-eight patients (median age 69 years, 26 females) with acute ischemic stroke were treated by IV tPA at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in 2006-2007. Median time between stroke onset and IV tPA administration was 148 minutes for the Sourasky center, 150 minutes for the Sheba center, and 140 minutes for SITS-MOST. The Sourasky mortality rate was 10.5%. Of the 31 patients who suffered MCA stroke, 8 had severe ipsilateral ICA stenosis. These 8 had significantly lower neurological improvement than the 23 without ipsilateral ICA stenosis (1/8 versus 15/23, P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data demonstrate fairly similar parameters of IV tPA treatment compared to other centers and suggest that patients with severe ICA stenosis might be less likely to benefit from IV tPA.
authors.affiliation: Stroke Unit, Department of Neurology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel. alexanderg@tasmc.health.gov.il
authors.forename: Alexander Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Gur
authors.forename: Ludmila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shopin
authors.forename: Natan M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Bornstein
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008875:Middle Aged; D010960:Plasminogen Activators / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D020521:Stroke / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D010960:Plasminogen Activators