MONDAY, May 1, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- For older adults with acute ischemic stroke, endovascular therapy seems safe and efficacious, according to a study published online April 19 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Fabrizio Sallustio, M.D., from the University of Tor Vergata in Italy, and colleagues divided 219 elderly adults treated for acute ischemic stroke according to age (≥80 years, 62 adults; <80 years, 157 adults). They compared the baseline and procedural characteristics, safety outcomes, and efficacy outcomes of the two groups.
The researchers found that participants aged 80 years and older more often had intravenous thrombolysis (67.7 versus 52.8 percent; P = 0.04) and had shorter onset to reperfusion time (318.7±128.7 versus 282±53.5; P = 0.02). There were no significant between-group differences in terms of successful reperfusion (69 versus 63 percent; P = 0.4), good clinical outcome (30.6 versus 34.3 percent; P = 0.6), any intracranial hemorrhage (37 versus 37.5 percent; P > 0.99), symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (11 versus 14 percent; P = 0.6), or mortality (40.3 versus 29.2 percent; P = 0.14). Independent predictors of three-month functional independence were onset National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score (odds ratio, 0.65; P = 0.03) and 24-hour clinical improvement (odds ratio, 141.13; P = 0.01) in the older group.
"These findings suggest that endovascular treatment for stroke in selected elderly adults could be safe and effective," the authors write.
Abstract
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
