Hemorrhagic complications of thrombolytic therapy

Stroke is the most frequent neurological disorder, and the most common cause of severe disability compared to other diseases. Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) is the only approved specific therapy for acute ischemic stroke. Hemorrhage is a significant complication of thrombolytic treatment. This study, which included a hundred patients (52 male and 48 female), was aimed at assessing the safety according to our experience with 100 thrombolytic treatments for stroke. The death rate related to hemorrhage after thrombolysis was 3%. The frequency of hemorrhagic events (hemorrhagic infarctions type 1 and 2, parenchymal hematomas type 1 and 2) was 16%. The study results have shown that the intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) therapy is safe.