Research Article

Efficacy and Safety of Intravenous Thrombolysis in Patients with Unknown Onset Stroke: A Meta-Analysis

Table 1

The baseline characteristics of the included studies in the meta-analysis (study quality of non-RCTs was shown).

StudyBarreto 2009 [15]Breuer 2010 [28]Michel 2011Kang 2012 [16]Manawadu 2013 [27]Bal 2014 [25]Anaissie 2016 [26]Thomalla 2018 [12]

RegionUSAGermanyUSAKoreaUKCanadaUSAGermany
DesignRetrospectiveProspectiveRCTProspectiveProspectiveRetrospectiveRetrospectiveRCT
Period2003.03-2008.012006.10-2008.052004.06-2007.122006.09-2009.072009.01-2010.122003.01-2010.032008.07-2014.052012.09-2017.06
Outcome assessment timeNA90 days90 days90 days90 days90 days90 days90 days
Admission time (h)36334.5NA4.5 h4.5 h
PreexaminationAll NCT, 10 CT perfusion, 6 MRIAll NCT, 43 MRI, 2 CTAAll NCT+CT perfusionAll NCT+MRIAll NCT, 64 CTPAll NCT, CTAAll NCTAll NCT+MRI
No. of patients
 Thrombolysis4610683682946254
 Conservative343561565441154249
Age (y)
 Thrombolysisa73 (57-92)b69.5 (57-78)bNAa68 (23)c69 (42-98)ba
 Conservativea66 (39-87)b49 (44-78)bNAa74 (21)c63 (22-93)ba
Gender
 Thrombolysis395355231222165
 Conservative4423388281785160
NIHSS
 Thrombolysis16 (3-24)b10.5 (1-22)b17 (13-21)b14 (10-18)c11.5 (8-17)c14 (11)c9.5 (1-27)b6 (4–9)c
 Conservative10.5 (2-26)b6 (1-21)b14.5 (12-19)b12 (6.25-17)c9 (5-15)c13 (11)c5 (0-33)b6 (4–9)c
HT
 Thrombolysis309454451836135
 Conservative22291943227119131
DM
 Thrombolysis1041231432043
 Conservative11130571374539
CAD
 Thrombolysis830NANANANANA
 Conservative560NANANANANA
Smoking
 ThrombolysisNA1030813NANA
 ConservativeNA9254719NANA
AF
 ThrombolysisNANA2NA2110630
 ConservativeNANA0NA9182129
Previous stroke
 ThrombolysisNA5NA19NANANA37
 ConservativeNA9NA31NANANA31
Hyperlipidemia
 Thrombolysis1284242291993
 Conservative9273402566085
TOAST classification
Cardioembolic
 Thrombolysis20423133NA11NA
 Conservative14805721NA34NA
Large artery atherosclerosis
 Thrombolysis15224614NA8NA
 Conservative71007711NA27NA
Small vessel
 Thrombolysis11004NA3NA
 Conservative574012NA53NA
Unknown
 Thrombolysis522NA13NA17NA
 Conservative582NA13NA25NA
Other
 Thrombolysis51064NA7NA
 Conservative220222NA14NA
LSN to symptom onset
 ThrombolysisNANANANANANANA7.2 (4.7–8.7) hc
 ConservativeNANANANANANANA7.0 (5.0–9.0) hc
LSN to door
 ThrombolysisNA508 (200-691) minbNA8.6 (5.4-11.1) hcNANANANA
 ConservativeNA577 (182-849) minbNA7.8 (4.9-11.7) hcNANANANA
LSN to thrombolysis
 ThrombolysisaNA564 (390–805) minbNANANANA10.3 (8.1–12.0) hc
 ConservativeNANA437.5 (330–656) minbNANANANA10.4 (8.1–12.1) hc
Symptom onset to door
 Thrombolysisa93 (20-287) minbNA1.7 (0.9-2.7) hcNAaNA2.6 (1.9–3.3) hc
 Conservativea95 (38-360) minbNA2.0 (1.0-3.6) hcNAaNA2.6 (2.1–3.3) hc
Symptom onset to thrombolysis
 ThrombolysisaNANA4.6 (2.8-6.0) hcNAaNA3.1 (2.5–3.8) hc
 ConservativeNANANANANANANA3.2 (2.6–3.9) hc
Door to treatment
 Thrombolysisa80 (45–127) minb109.5 (85–131) minb155 (100–195) mincNANANA25 (16–35) minc
 ConservativeNANA113 (75–205) minbNANANANA26 (18–37) minc
Good outcome
 Thrombolysis135437251422188
 Conservative421151141766162
Mortality
 Thrombolysis720NA107210
 Conservative000NA14363
NIHSS at 24 h
 ThrombolysisNA7.5 (0-18)b10.5 (7-19)bNA6 (2, 13.5)c10 (13)c4 (0-24)bNA
 ConservativeNA5 (0-21)b19.5 (6-24)bNA5 (3, 10)c10.5 (15.5)c3 (0-29)bNA
NIHSS change at 24 h
 ThrombolysisNANANANA-4 (-8, 0)cNA-2 (-16, 19)bNA
 ConservativeNANANANA-3 (-4, 0)cNA-1 (-13, 17)bNA
NIHSS at discharge
 ThrombolysisNA6 (0–21)bNANANANA3 (2-42)bNA
 ConservativeNA3 (0–15)bNANANANA3 (0-42)bNA
sICH
 Thrombolysis202NA22120
 Conservative002NA02112
ICH
 ThrombolysisNA12NA155NANA
 ConservativeNA02NA21NANA
Study quality76NA8876NA

RCT: randomized controlled trial; CT: computed tomography; NCT: noncontrast CT; MRI: magnetic resonance imaging; a: ; b: median (minimum-maximum); c: mean (interquartile); y: year; h: hour; min: minute; NA: not applicable; HT: hypertension; DM: diabetes mellitus; CAD: cardiovascular disease; AF: arterial fibrillation; mRS: modified Rankin Scale; NIHSS: National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale; LSN: last seen normal; ICH: intracerebral hemorrhage; sICH: symptomatic ICH.