Abstract 75: Safety of Statin Pretreatment in Intravenous Thrombolysis (IVT) for Acute Ischemic Stroke (AIS)

Background&Purpose: A recent meta-analysis investigating the association between statin pretreatment and early outcomes in patients with AIS indicated that pre-stroke statin treatment was associated with increased risk of 90-day mortality and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH). We sought to investigate the potential association of statin pretreatment with early outcomes in a large, international registry of AIS patients treated with IVT. Subjects&Methods: We analyzed prospectively collected data from the Safe Implementation of Treatments in Stroke-East registry (SITS-EAST) on consecutive AIS patients treated with IVT during a seven-year period. We used three widely accepted definitions for sICH from NINDS-rtPA-Stroke Study, ECASS II trial and SITS registry. Dramatic clinical recovery (DCR) within 24 hours was defined as reduction in the baseline NIHSS-score of ≥10 points. Favorable functional outcome (FFO) at three months was defined as modified Rankin Scale score of 0-1. Results: We analyzed a total of 1660 AIS patients (mean age 67±13 years, median baseline NIHSS-score 11 points, interquartile range 5-16). Patients with statin pretreatment (n=373, 23%) had higher (p=0.019) baseline stroke severity compared to cases who had not received any statin at symptom onset. After adjusting for demographics, baseline stroke severity, onset-to-treatment time, history of previous stroke, risk factors, and admission blood pressure levels, statin pretreatment was not associated with a higher likelihood of sICH defined by the NINDS (OR: 1.41; 95%CI: 0.83-2.39; p=0.201), ECASS II (OR: 1.13; 95%CI: 0.60-2.14; p=0.712) or SITS (OR: 1.89; 95%CI: 0.75-4.77; p=0.178) criteria. Statin pretreatment was not related to three-month all-cause mortality (OR: 0.92; 95%CI: 0.57-1.49; p=0.741) or three-month FFO (OR: 0.81; 95%CI: 0.52-1.27; p=0.364). Statin pretreatment was independently associated with a higher odds of DCR (OR: 1.91; 95%CI: 1.25-2.92; p=0.003). Conclusions: Our findings indicate that statin therapy at symptom onset is not associated with adverse outcomes in AIS patients treated with IVT, while statin pretreatment almost doubles the likelihood of DCR during the first hours following tPA-infusion.