Introduction: Thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke (IS) is limited by the short time window. However, this can be improved with adequate coordination of all the professionals and procedures involved in acute stroke treatment.
Patients and methods: A multicenter, observational, prospective study conducted in IS patients treated with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator between January 2003 and May 2007 was performed. A descriptive analysis of epidemiologic and clinical variables was conducted. Temporal analysis of safety, efficacy and quality parameters was carried out with the Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) (p, d, q) models.
Results: From January 2003 to 2007, 324 patients were included (56% males; median age: 65.6). A total of 53.6 % became independent at 3 months (score 0-2 on the Modified Rankin Scale). Mortality rate 3 months after treatment was 15.7% and 3.7% suffered symptomatic intracranial bleeding. The temporal analysis showed a significant increase of thrombolysis, from a mean of 2 procedures per month to 20 (p<0.0001). There was a significant increase in the percentage of 3-month independent patients (0.83% [ARIMA] (1, 0, 1) p<0.0001).
Conclusions: Intravenous thrombolysis is a safe and effective procedure for the treatment of IS in the clinical practice. As the experience of all the professionals involved in IS treatment increases, the number of patients who receive iv rtPA increases, with better outcome. Temporal analysis by ARIMA models is useful in planning health policies.