Thrombolysis Proves Effective Outside the 3-Hour Window

January 23, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Thrombolysis Proves Effective Outside the 3-Hour Window Delayed treatment outcomes compare with early CT thrombolysis if diffusion-perfusion mismatch is present Dee Rapposelli -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MRI-assisted thrombolysis is as good as and perhaps better than CT-assisted thrombolysis, and it may be particularly valuable for patients treated outside of the prescribed 3-hour treatment window after stroke onset.1 These findings were part of a large multicenter European study reported at the 2007 International Stroke Conference in San Francisco in February by Peter D. Schellinger, MD, PhD, a professor of neurology at the University of Erlangen in Germany. The study, which compared standard CT-based thrombolysis (within the 3-hour treatment window) with MRI-based thrombolysis within and outside the 3-hour window, included 1210 patients from 5 stroke centers in Germany and Spain. CT-assisted thrombolysis within 3 hours of stroke onset was performed in 714 patients, MRI-assisted thrombolysis within 3 hours after stroke was performed in 322 patients, and MRI-assisted thrombolysis after 3 hours of stroke onset was performed in 174 patients. The mean onset to treatment time was 130, 136, and 279 minutes, respectively.

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