BOSTON – Intravenous thrombolysis with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is associated with adverse outcomes, including an increased risk of death, in children with acute ischemic stroke, based on a review of cases from the 2006-2010 Nationwide Inpatient Survey.
Of 20,587 patients aged 0-17 years who were included in the survey, 198 received an intervention, including tPA in 169 patients, intra-arterial thrombectomy (IAT) in 5 patients, and both tPA and IAT in 24 patients. The overall mortality was 7.8%, but in those who received tPA it was 13.8%, compared with 7.7% in those who did not, Kathryn Ess, MD, reported at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.
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Other outcomes were also worse in those who received tPA. For example, untreated patients were more likely to be discharged home than were tPA-treated patients (67.8% vs. 47.5%), and intracerebral hemorrhage was more common in treated vs. untreated patients (10.1% vs. 3.8%). Costs for treated patients averaged $200,346 vs. $123,015 for untreated patients.
Children included in the review had a mean age of 6 years, 43.9% were girls, and 47.7% were white. Treated patients were older (10 years vs. 5.9 years), and comorbidities included Moyamoya disease in 12.4% of patients, cardiac valvular disease in 6.6%, and sickle cell disease in 6.5%. Those who received tPA had a higher prevalence of procoagulable conditions (15.2% vs. 2%). Of note, the higher prevalence of intracerebral hemorrhage in treated patients was not explained by Moyamoya or sickle cell disease, as patients with those comorbidities were less likely than those without those conditions to receive treatment, Dr. Ess said.
Though limited by the retrospective study design, small numbers of treated patients, a lack of data on stroke severity or functional outcomes, and the inclusion of data from years before newer thrombectomy devices became available, the findings highlight concerns about the safety and efficacy of tPA in children with ischemic stroke, she said, noting that few studies have looked at the utility of tPA with or without IAT in the pediatric population.
“Studies of the efficacy of ischemic stroke treatment in adults can’t necessarily be extrapolated to children,” she said, adding that this is especially true given the difference in etiologies of pediatric acute ischemic stroke.
Indeed, the findings underscore “the age-old adage that children are not just little adults,” said Andrew Southerland, MD, of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, who was the discussant for the session.
“We need prospective clinical trials in children,” he said.
Dr. Ess and Dr. Southerland reported having no relevant financial disclosures.