Intravenous thrombolysis in ischemic stroke: Experience in a Popayán hospital, Cauca

INTRODUCTION:Acute ischemic stroke is a pathology of high prevalence that generates great disability and mortality, but when it receives thrombolytic treatment, it can show improvement in disability scales. In Colombia, there are few studies in which experience with these medications is reported and in the Cauca District Cauca, there is none. The objective of this study is to describe the demographic, clinical and short-term outcome characteristics of patients with stroke undergoing thrombolysis, in a hospital in the city of Popayan between 2010 and 2019.MATERIALS AND METHODS:Retrospective case series evaluating risk factors, clinical severity using the NIHSS scale, favorable outcomes and complications derived from thrombolysis.RESULTS:29 patients with an average of 68 years were included, 62.1 % were men and the most frequent comorbidity was hypertension (72.4 %). The average of the NIHSS score at admission was 14 points (SD: 4.99). Thrombolytic therapy decreased 4.5 points (95 % CI 2.7 - 6.3, p: 0.00). The cerebral hemorrhage, after the intervention was 25.9 % and the mortality was 15.4 %.CONCLUSION:Thrombolytic therapy in patients with ischemic stroke results in improvement of the NIHSS scale measured at the end of thrombolysis and at 24 hours. Failures were recognized in the approach and treatment, as well as a percentage of bleeding greater than reported in the literature. Further studies are required to corroborate the results, due to the limited number of participants.