Intravenous alteplase for stroke with unknown time of onset guided by advanced imaging: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient data

Götz Thomalla, Florent Boutitie, Henry Ma, Masatoshi Koga, Peter Ringleb, Lee H. Schwamm, Ona Wu, Martin Bendszus, Christopher F. Bladin, Bruce C.V. Campbell, Bastian Cheng, Leonid Churilov, Martin Ebinger, Matthias Endres, Jochen B. Fiebach, Mayumi Fukuda-Doi, Manabu Inoue, Timothy J. Kleinig, Lawrence L. Latour, Robin LemmensChristopher R. Levi, Didier Leys, Kaori Miwa, Carlos A. Molina, Keith W. Muir, Norbert Nighoghossian, Mark W. Parsons, Salvador Pedraza, Peter D. Schellinger, Stefan Schwab, Claus Z. Simonsen, Shlee S. Song, Vincent Thijs, Danilo Toni, Chung Y. Hsu, Nils Wahlgren, Haruko Yamamoto, Nawaf Yassi, Sohei Yoshimura, Steven Warach, Werner Hacke, Kazunori Toyoda, Geoffrey A. Donnan, Stephen M. Davis, Christian Gerloff, Boris Raul Acosta, Karen Aegidius, Christian Albiker, Anna Alegiani, Miriam Almendrote, Angelika Alonso, Katharina Althaus, Pierre Amarenco, Hemasse Amiri, Bettina Anders, Adriana Aniculaesei, Jason Appleton, Juan Arenillas, Christina Back, Christian Bähr, Jürgen Bardutzky, Flore Baronnet-Chauvet, Rouven Bathe-Peters, Anna Bayer-Karpinska, Juan L. Becerra, Christoph Beck, Olga Belchí Guillamon, Amandine Benoit, Nadia Berhoune, Daniela Bindila, Julia Birchenall, Karine Blanc-Lasserre, Miguel Blanco Gonzales, Tobias Bobinger, Ulf Bodechtel, Eric Bodiguel, Urszula Bojaryn, Louise Bonnet, Benjamin Bouamra, Paul Bourgeois, Lorenz Breuer, Ludovic Breynaert, David Broughton, Raf Brouns, Sébastian Brugirard, Bart Bruneel, Florian Buggle, Serkan Cakmak, Ana Calleja, David Calvet, David Carrera, Hsin Chieh Chen, Bharath Cheripelli, Tae Hee Cho, Chi un Choe, Lillian Choy, Hanne Christensen, Mareva Ciatipis, Geoffrey Cloud, Julien Cogez, Elisa Cortijo, Sophie Crozier, Dorte Damgaard, Krishna Dani, Beatrijs De Coene, Isabel De Hollander, Jacques De Keyser, Nina De Klippel, Charlotte De Maeseneire, Ann De Smedt, Maria del Mar Castellanos Rodrigo, Sandrine Deltour, Jelle Demeestere, Laurent Derex, Philippe Desfontaines, Ralf Dittrich, Anand Dixit, Laurens Dobbels, Valérie Domigo, Laura Dorado, Charlotte Druart, Kristina Hougaard Dupont, Anne Dusart, Rainer Dziewas, Matthias Ebner, Myriam Edjali-Goujon, Philipp Eisele, Salwa El Tawil, Ahmed Elhfnawy, Ana Etexberria, Nicholas Evans, Simon Fandler, Franz Fazekas, Sandra Felix, Jochen B. Fiebach, Jens Fiehler, Alexandra Filipov, Katharina Filipski, Robert Fleischmann, Christian Foerch, Ian Ford, Alexandra Gaenslen, Ivana Galinovic, Elena Meseguer Gancedo, Ramanan Ganeshan, Alicia Garrido, Thomas Gattringer, Olivia Geraghty, Rohat Geran, Stefan Gerner, Sylvie Godon-Hardy, Jos Göhler, Amir Golsari, Meritxell Gomis, David Gorriz, Verena Gramse, Laia Grau, Martin Griebe, Cristina Guerrero, Damla Guerzoglu, Sophie Guettier, Vincent Guiraud, Christoph Gumbinger, Ignaz Gunreben, Florian Haertig, Christian Hametner, Bernard Hanseeuw, Andreas Hansen, Jakob Hansen, Thomas Harbo, Andreas Harloff, Peter Harmel, Karl Georg Häusler, Florian Heinen, Valentin Held, Simon Hellwig, Dimitri Hemelsoet, Michael Hennerici, Juliane Herm, Sylvia Hermans, María Hernández, Jose Hervas Vicente, Niels Hjort, Cristina Hobeanu, Carsten Hobohm, Elmar Höfner, Katharina Hohenbichler, Marc Hommel, Julia Hoppe, Eva Hornberger, Carolin Hoyer, Xuya Huang, Nils Ipsen, Irina Isern, Lourdes Ispierto, Helle Iversen, Lise Jeppesen, Marta Jimenez, Jan Jungehülsing, Eric Jüttler, Dheeraj Kalladka, Bernd Kallmünzer, Arindam Kar, Lars Kellert, André Kemmling, Tobias Kessler, Usman Khan, Matthias Klein, Christoph Kleinschnitz, Matti Klockziem, Michael Knops, Luzie Koehler, Martin Koehrmann, Heinz Kohlfürst, Rainer Kollmar, Peter Kraft, Thomas Krause, Bo Kristensen, Jan M. Kröber, Natalia Kurka, Alexandre Ladoux, Patrice Laloux, Catherine Lamy, Emmanuelle Landrault, Arne Lauer, Claire Lebely, Jonathan Leempoel, Kennedy Lees, Anne Leger, Laurence Legrand, Lin Li, Anna Mareike Löbbe, Frederic London, Elena Lopez-cancio, Matthias Lorenz, Stephen Louw, Caroline Lovelock, Manuel Lozano Sánchez, Giuseppe Lucente, Janos Lückl, Alain Luna, Kosmas Macha, Alexandre Machet, Daniel Mackenrodt, Dominik Madzar, Charles Majoie, Anika Männer, Vicky Maqueda, Jacob Marstrand, Alicia Martinez, Annika Marzina, Laura Mechthouff, Per Meden, Guy Meersman, Julia Meier, Charles Mellerio, Oliver Menn, Nadja Meyer, Dominik Michalski, Peter Michels, Lene Michelsen, Monica Millán Torne, Jens Minnerup, Boris Modrau, Sebastian Moeller, Anette Møller, Nathalie Morel, Fiona Moreton, Ludovic Morin, Thierry Moulin, Barry Moynihan, Anne K. Mueller, Patricia Mulero, Sibu Mundiyanapurath, Johannes Mutzenbach, Simon Nagel, Oliver Naggara, Arumugam Nallasivan, Irene Navalpotro, Alexander H. Nave, Paul Nederkoorn, Lars Neeb, Hermann Neugebauer, Tobias Neumann-Haefelin, Stefan Oberndorfer, Christian Opherk, Lorenz Oppel, Catherine Oppenheim, Johannes Orthgieß, Leif Ostergaard, Perrine Paindeville, Ernest Palomeras, Verena Panitz, Bhavni Patel, Andre Peeters, Dirk Peeters, Anna Pellisé, Johann Pelz, Anthony Pereira, Natalia Pérez de la Ossa, Richard Perry, Salvador Petraza, Stéphane Peysson, Waltraud Pfeilschifter, Alexander Pichler, Alexandra Pierskalla, Hans Werner Pledl, Sven Poli, Katrin Pomrehn, Marika Poulsen, Luis Prats, Silvia Presas, Elisabeth Prohaska, Volker Puetz, Josep Puig, Josep Puig Alcántara, Jan Purrucker, Veronique Quenardelle, Sankaranarayanan Ramachandran, Soulliard Raphaelle, Nicolas Raposo, Tilman Reiff, Michel Remmers, Pauline Renou, Martin Ribitsch, Hardy Richter, Martin Ritter, Thomas Ritzenthaler, Gilles Rodier, Christine Rodriguez-Regent, Manuel Rodríguez-Yáñez, Maria Roennefarth, Christine Roffe, Sverre Rosenbaum, Charlotte Rosso, Joachim Röther, Michal Rozanski, Noelia Ruiz de Morales, Francesca Russo, Matthieu Rutgers, Sharmilla Sagnier, Yves Samson, Josep Sánchez, Tamara Sauer, Jan H. Schäfer, Simon Schieber, Josef Schill, Dennis Schlak, Ludwig Schlemm, Sein Schmidt, Wouter Schonewille, Julian Schröder, Andreas Schulz, Johannes Schurig, Sönke Schwarting, Alexander Schwarz, Christopher Schwarzbach, Matthias Seidel, Alexander Seiler, Jochen Sembill, Joaquin Serena Leal, Ashit Shetty, Igor Sibon, Claus Z. Simonsen, Oliver Singer, Aravinth Sivagnanaratham, Ide Smets, Craig Smith, Peter Soors, Nikola Sprigg, Maximilian Spruegel, David Stark, Susanne Steinert, Sebastian Stösser, Markus Stuermlinger, Bart Swinnen, Ruben Tamazyan, Jose Tembl, Mikel Terceno Izaga, Emmanuel Touze, Thomas Truelsen, Guillaume Turc, Gaetane Turine, Serdar Tütüncü, Pippa Tyrell, Xavier Ustrell, Wilfried Vadot, Anne Evelyne Vallet, Pauline Vallet, Lucie van den Berg, Sophie van den Berg, Cecile van Eendenburg, Robbert Jan Van Hooff, Isabelle van Sloten, Peter Vanacker, Evelien Vancaester, Patrick Vanderdonckt, Yves Vandermeeren, Frederik Vanhee, Roland Veltkamp, Karsten Vestergaard, Alain Viguier, Dolores Vilas, Kersten Villringer, Dieke Voget, Jörg von Schrader, Paul von Weitzel, Elisabeth Warburton, Claudia Weber, Jörg Weber, Karl Wegscheider, Mirko Wegscheider, Christian Weimar, Karin Weinstich, Christopher Weise, Gesa Weise, Chris Willems, Klemens Winder, Matthias Wittayer, Marc Wolf, Martin Wolf, Valerie Wolff, Christian Wollboldt, Frank Wollenweber, Anke Wouters, Bertrand Yalo, Marion Yger, Nadia Younan, Laetita Yperzeele, Vesna Zegarac, Pia Zeiner, Ulf Ziemann, Thomas Zonneveld, Mathieu Zuber, Tsugio Akutsu, Junya Aoki, Shuji Arakawa, Ryosuke Doijiri, Yusuke Egashira, Yukiko Enomoto, Eisuke Furui, Konosuke Furuta, Seiji Gotoh, Toshimitsu Hamasaki, Yasuhiro Hasegawa, Teryuki Hirano, Kazunari Homma, Masahiko Ichijyo, Toshihiro Ide, Shuichi Igarashi, Yasuyuki Iguchi, Masafumi Ihara, Hajime Ikenouchi, Tsuyoshi Inoue, Ryo Itabashi, Yasuhiro Ito, Toru Iwama, Kenji Kamiyama, Shoko Kamiyoshi, Haruka Kanai, Yasuhisa Kanematsu, Takao Kanzawa, Kazumi Kimura, Jiro Kitayama, Takanari Kitazono, Rei Kondo, Kohsuke Kudo, Masayoshi Kusumi, Ken Kuwahara, Shoji Matsumoto, Hideki Matsuoka, Ban Mihara, Kazuo Minematsu, Ken Miura, Naomi Morita, Wataru Mouri, Kayo Murata, Yoshinari Nagakane, Taizen Nakase, Hiromi Ohara, Nobuyuki Ohara, Hideyuki Ohnishi, Hajime Ohta, Masafumi Ohtaki, Ryo Ohtani, Toshiho Ohtsuki, Hideo Ohyama, Takashi Okada, Yasushi Okada, Masato Osaki, Nobuyuki Sakai, Yoshiki Sanbongi, Naoshi Sasaki, Makoto Sasaki, Shoichiro Sato, Kenta Seki, Wataru Shimizu, Yoshiaki Shiokawa, Takashi Sozu, Junichiro Suzuki, Rieko Suzuki, Yasushi Takagi, Shunya Takizawa, Norio Tanahashi, Eijiro Tanaka, Ryota Tanaka, Yohei Tateishi, Tomoaki Terada, Tadashi Terasaki, Kenichi Todo, Azusa Tokunaga, Akira Tsujino, Toshihiro Ueda, Yoshikazu Uesaka, Mihoko Uotani, Takao Urabe, Masao Watanabe, Yoshiki Yagita, Yusuke Yakushiji, Keizo Yasui, Toshiro Yonehara, Shinichi Yoshimura, K. Aarnio, F. Alemseged, C. Anderson, T. Ang, M. L. Archer, J. Attia, P. Bailey, A. Balabanski, A. Barber, P. A. Barber, J. Bernhardt, A. Bivard, D. Blacker, A. Brodtmann, D. Cadilhac, L. Carey, S. Celestino, L. Chan, W. H. Chang, A. ChangI, C. H. Chen, C. I. Chen, H. F. Chen, T. C. Chen, W. H. Chen, Y. Y. Chen, C. A. Cheng, E. Cheong, Y. W. Chiou, P. M. Choi, H. J. Chu, C. S. Chuang, T. C. Chung, L. Churilov, B. Clissold, A. Connelly, S. Coote, B. Coulton, E. Cowley, J. Cranefield, S. Curtze, C. D'Este, S. Day, P. M. Desmond, H. M. Dewey, C. Ding, R. Drew, S. Eirola, D. Field, T. Frost, C. Garcia-Esperon, K. George, R. Gerraty, R. Grimley, Y. C. Guo, G. Hankey, J. Harvey, S. C. Ho, K. Hogan, D. Howells, P. M. Hsiao, C. H. Hsu, C. T. Hsu, C. S. Hsu, J. P. Hsu, Y. D. Hsu, Y. T. Hsu, C. J. Hu, C. C. Huang, H. Y. Huang, M. Y. Huang, S. C. Huang, W. S. Huang, D. Jackson, J. S. Jeng, S. K. Jiang, L. Kaauwai, O. Kasari, J. King, M. Koivu, J. Kolbe, M. Krause, C. W. Kuan, W. L. Kung, C. Kyndt, C. L. Lau, A. Lee, C. Y. Lee, J. T. Lee, Y. Lee, Y. C. Lee, L. M. Lien, J. C. Lim, C. C. Lin, C. H. Lin, C. M. Lin, D. Lin, C. H. Liu, J. Liu, Y. C. Lo, P. S. Loh, E. Low, C. H. Lu, C. J. Lu, M. K. Lu, J. Ly, L. Macaulay, R. Macdonnell, E. Mackey, M. Macleod, J. Mahadevan, V. Maxwell, R. McCoy, A. McDonald, S. McModie, A. Meretoja, S. Mishra, P. J. Mitchell, F. Miteff, A. Moore, C. Muller, F. Ng, F. C. Ng, J. L. Ng, W. O'Brian, V. O'Collins, T. J. Oxley, S. Patel, G. S. Peng, L. Pesavento, T. Phan, E. Rodrigues, Z. Ross, A. Sabet, M. Sallaberger, P. Salvaris, D. Shah, G. Sharma, G. Sibolt, M. Simpson, S. Singhal, B. Snow, N. Spratt, R. Stark, J. Sturm, M. C. Sun, Y. Sun, P. S. Sung, Y. F. Sung, M. Suzuki, M. Tan, S. C. Tang, T. Tatlisumak, M. Tiainen, C. H. Tsai, C. K. Tsai, C. L. Tsai, H. T. Tsai, L. K. Tsai, C. H. Tseng, L. T. Tseng, J. Tsoleridis, H. Tu, H. T.H. Tu, W. Vallat, J. Virta, W. C. Wang, Y. T. Wang, M. Waters, L. Weir, T. Wijeratne, C. Williams, W. Wilson, A. A. Wong, K. Wong, T. Y. Wu, Y. H. Wu, B. Yan, F. C. Yang, Y. W. Yang, H. L. Yeh, J. H. Yeh, S. J. Yeh, C. H. Yen, D. Young, C. L. Ysai, W. W. Zhang, H. Zhao, L. Zhao, Katharina Althaus-Knaurer, Jörg Berrouschot, Erich Bluhmki, Paolo Bovi, Gilles Chatellier, Lynda Cove, A. Dixit, Christina Ehrenkrona, Christoph Eschenfelder, Marc Fatar, Juan Francisco Arenillas, Franz Gruber, Lalit Kala, Peter Kapeller, Markku Kaste, Christof Kessler, Martin Köhrmann, Rico Laage, Kennedy R. Lees, Alain Luna Rodriguez, Jean Louis Mas, Robert Mikulik, Girish Muddegowda, Kurt Niederkorn, Xavier Nuñez, Joaquin Serena, Jan Sobesky, Thorsten Steiner, Ann Sofie Svenson, Rüdiger von Kummer, Joanna Wardlaw, Rebecca A. Betensky, Gregoire Boulouis, Raphael A. Carandang, William A. Copen, Pedro Cougo, Shawna Cutting, Kendra Drake, Andria L. Ford, John Hallenbeck, Gordon J. Harris, Robert Hoesch, Amie Hsia, Carlos Kase, Lawrence Latour, Michael H. Lev, Alona Muzikansky, Nandakumar Nagaraja, Lee H. Schwamm, Eric Searls, Shlee S. Song, Sidney Starkman, Albert J. Yoo, Ramin Zand

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

111 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Patients who have had a stroke with unknown time of onset have been previously excluded from thrombolysis. We aimed to establish whether intravenous alteplase is safe and effective in such patients when salvageable tissue has been identified with imaging biomarkers. Methods: We did a systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient data for trials published before Sept 21, 2020. Randomised trials of intravenous alteplase versus standard of care or placebo in adults with stroke with unknown time of onset with perfusion-diffusion MRI, perfusion CT, or MRI with diffusion weighted imaging-fluid attenuated inversion recovery (DWI-FLAIR) mismatch were eligible. The primary outcome was favourable functional outcome (score of 0–1 on the modified Rankin Scale [mRS]) at 90 days indicating no disability using an unconditional mixed-effect logistic-regression model fitted to estimate the treatment effect. Secondary outcomes were mRS shift towards a better functional outcome and independent outcome (mRS 0–2) at 90 days. Safety outcomes included death, severe disability or death (mRS score 4–6), and symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage. This study is registered with PROSPERO, CRD42020166903. Findings: Of 249 identified abstracts, four trials met our eligibility criteria for inclusion: WAKE-UP, EXTEND, THAWS, and ECASS-4. The four trials provided individual patient data for 843 individuals, of whom 429 (51%) were assigned to alteplase and 414 (49%) to placebo or standard care. A favourable outcome occurred in 199 (47%) of 420 patients with alteplase and in 160 (39%) of 409 patients among controls (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1·49 [95% CI 1·10–2·03]; p=0·011), with low heterogeneity across studies (I2=27%). Alteplase was associated with a significant shift towards better functional outcome (adjusted common OR 1·38 [95% CI 1·05–1·80]; p=0·019), and a higher odds of independent outcome (adjusted OR 1·50 [1·06–2·12]; p=0·022). In the alteplase group, 90 (21%) patients were severely disabled or died (mRS score 4–6), compared with 102 (25%) patients in the control group (adjusted OR 0·76 [0·52–1·11]; p=0·15). 27 (6%) patients died in the alteplase group and 14 (3%) patients died among controls (adjusted OR 2·06 [1·03–4·09]; p=0·040). The prevalence of symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage was higher in the alteplase group than among controls (11 [3%] vs two [<1%], adjusted OR 5·58 [1·22–25·50]; p=0·024). Interpretation: In patients who have had a stroke with unknown time of onset with a DWI-FLAIR or perfusion mismatch, intravenous alteplase resulted in better functional outcome at 90 days than placebo or standard care. A net benefit was observed for all functional outcomes despite an increased risk of symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage. Although there were more deaths with alteplase than placebo, there were fewer cases of severe disability or death. Funding: None.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1574-1584
Number of pages11
JournalThe Lancet
Volume396
Issue number10262
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 14 2020

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Medicine

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Intravenous alteplase for stroke with unknown time of onset guided by advanced imaging: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient data'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this