A Study of Intravenous Thrombolysis With Alteplase in MRI-Selected Patients

Summary

This study was jointly developed and is jointly led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital and the intramural division of NINDS. We are doing this research study to find out if Activase ® (also called alteplase or rt-PA) can safely be given to people with an acute ischemic stroke when their stroke onset was not witnessed making them ineligible for standard thrombolytic (clot busting) therapy. We also want to find out if rt-PA can help people recover better from their stroke. The purpose of this study is to: 1) see if it is safe to give intravenous (IV) rt-PA to people with unwitnessed stroke but with MRI evidence of early ischemic stroke, 2) see if rt-PA is effective if given to people who are selected for treatment based on MRI evidence of an early stroke, and 3) get information about this new MRI diagnostic methods for guiding stroke treatment.

Timeline

Start

2011-01

Primary completion

2016-01

Completion

2016-05

Publications

• Schwamm LH, Wu O, Song SS, Latour LL, Ford AL, Hsia AW, Muzikansky A, Betensky RA, Yoo AJ, Lev MH, Boulouis G, Lauer A, Cougo P, Copen WA, Harris GJ, Warach S; MR WITNESS Investigators. Intravenous thrombolysis in unwitnessed stroke onset: MR WITNESS trial results. Ann Neurol. 2018 May;83(5):980-993. doi: 10.1002/ana.25235. Epub 2018 Apr 27.
• Ali SF, Siddiqui K, Ay H, Silverman S, Singhal A, Viswanathan A, Rost N, Lev M, Schwamm LH. Baseline Predictors of Poor Outcome in Patients Too Good to Treat With Intravenous Thrombolysis. Stroke. 2016 Dec;47(12):2986-2992. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.116.014871. Epub 2016 Nov 10.

Drugs

Indications