Outcome of Patients With Negative CT Angiography Results for Arterial Occlusion Treated With Intravenous Thrombolysis

Background and Purpose— Stroke patients without evidence of arterial occlusion may not be suitable candidates for thrombolytic therapy. In our study, we investigated the outcomes of patients with negative CT angiography results for arterial occlusion. Methods— The study included patients treated within 3 hours after symptom onset with intravenous thrombolysis for significant neurological deficit between August 2003 and June 2007. All of the patients were documented with negative CT angiography results for arterial occlusion by independent reviews. Outcome measurements included modified Rankin score at 3 months, incidence of intracranial hemorrhage, and infarction volume on control CT. The predictors of unfavorable outcome (modified Rankin score, 2–6) were identified by multivariate logistic regression. Results— Altogether, 173 patients received intravenous thrombolysis; of those, 138 underwent CT angiography. The CT angiography results were negative for arterial occlusion in 39 (28%) of the patients: mean...