Publication:

A retrospective pilot study analyzing the effects of various factors and benefits of various drugs used in treating late admitted cases of acute ischemic stroke

Background In Indian scenario, most of the cases of acute ischemic stroke are admitted and initiated treatment when the stipulated period of 4-6h for thrombolytic therapy is crossed. It is unclear on to benefits of treating such patients and our study aims at analysing the clinical and demographic factors associated with achieving improvement in functional ability in this special category of patients.

Methods Review of case records of acute ischemic stroke patients admitted after 6h of onset of stroke to a tertiary care teaching hospital of north Karnataka, India, over a period of one year with minimum of seven days of treatment was done. Drug utilization pattern, severity of ischemic stroke, baseline demographic and clinical data were extracted. The neurological recovery at the end of treatment period was analysed by using Barthel Index (BI) score. All the factors and drug utilization pattern were described using descriptive statistics and their correlation with BI score was analysed by spearman’s correlation coefficient.

Results Of the total 446 case records with diagnosis of stroke, only 39 met the eligibility criteria and included in the study. Statistically significant correlation to BI score was seen with severity of stroke, day-1 SBP, use of physiotherapy, time lapsed in initiating treatment, amount of decrease in SBP and baseline serum creatinine level.

Conclusions Our study helped in generating the hypothesis on effects of various factors and therapeutic modalities on neurological recovery of late admitted cases of acute ischemic stroke.