Background:
Current guidelines recommend 24 hours of hospital bed rest after thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke. We sought to compare outcomes and in-hospital complications of 12- and 24-hour bed rest protocols following thrombolysis in minor stroke patients.
Methods:
Consecutive patients age >18 years with a diagnosis of ischemic stroke with initial National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) 0-6 who received intravenous thrombolysis only from 1/1/2017 until 4/30/2018 were included. Standard practice bed rest order for 24 hour protocol prior to 07/15/2017 was compared with 12 hour bed rest order protocol after that date. Primary outcome was length of stay. Secondary outcome measures included symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH), deep venous thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), pneumonia, favorable discharge to home or acute rehabilitation, readmission within 30 days and modified rankin scale (mRS) at 90 days.
Results:
77 patients were identified, 36 patients in the 24-hour protocol and 41 in 12-hour bed rest protocol groups. There was no significant difference for length of stay in the 24-hour bed rest protocol (2.8 days) compared with the 12-hour bed rest protocol (2.3 days) (p=0.37) (Table). Compared with the 24-hour bed rest group, the rates of sICH (p=1.00), DVT (p=NS), PE (p=NS), pneumonia (p=1.00), favorable discharge disposition (p=0.69), 30 day readmission (p=0.80) and 90 day mRS 0-2 (p=0.36) were also not different between the groups (Table). Time to mobilization was significantly different between the two groups (p<0.001) (Table).
Conclusion:
Compared with 24-hour bed rest, 12-hour bed rest after thrombolysis for minor acute ischemic stroke was associated with significantly earlier patient mobilization without any adverse outcomes. A randomized trial is needed to verify these findings.
The current standard of practice for patients with acute ischemic stroke treated with intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) requires critical monitoring for 24-hours post-treatment due to the risk of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH). This is a costly and resource intensive practice. In this study, we evaluated the safety and efficacy of this standard 24-hour ICU monitoring period compared with a shorter 12-hour ICU monitoring period for minor stroke patients (NIHSS 0-5) treated with tPA only. Stroke mimics and those who underwent thrombectomy were excluded. The primary outcome was length of hospital stay. Secondary outcome measures included sICH, deep venous thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), pneumonia, favorable discharge to home or acute rehabilitation, readmission within 30 days, and favorable functional outcome defined as modified Rankin scale (mRS) of 0-2 at 90 days. Of the 122 patients identified, 77 were in the 24-hour protocol and 45 were in 12-hour protocol. There was significant difference in length of hospital stay for the 24-hour ICU protocol (2.8 days) compared with the 12-hour ICU protocol (1.8 days) ( P < 0.001). Although not statistically significant, the 12-hour group had favorable rates of sICH, 30-day readmission rates, favorable discharge disposition and favorable functional outcome. Rates of DVT, PE and aspiration pneumonia were identical between the groups. Compared with 24-hour ICU monitoring, 12-hour ICU monitoring after thrombolysis for minor acute ischemic stroke was not associated with any increase in adverse outcomes. A randomized trial is needed to verify these findings.
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