ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare the safety of intravenous thrombolytic therapy with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) in ischemic patients under the guidance of CT and multi-mode MRI.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical, laboratory, and radiologic data from 113 consecutive hyperacute ischemic patients who received intravenous rtPA therapy from June 2009 to October 2011 was retrospectively reviewed. The rate of hemorrhagic transformation (HT) and the clinical outcome between CT and multi-mode MRI was compared. Etiological subgroups were classified according to Chinese ischemic stroke subclassification (CISS).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among 113 patients treated with intravenous rtPA, the mean age was 66 ±12 years, 74(65.5%) were man, the pretreatment National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score (NIHSS) was 12.4 ±6.5, and time from symptom onset to therapy was 259.7 ±131.7 min. Postlytic radiological HT was found in 34 patients (30.1%). Symptomatic ICH occurred in 9 patients (8%). Logistic regression analysis suggested that multi-mode MRI was an independent predictor of reduced risk of HT.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The risk of hemorrhagic complications is lower in patients receiving intravenous thrombolytic therapy with rtPA guided by multi-mode MRI than those guided by CT scan.</p>