Lesion patterns in successful and failed thrombolysis in middle cerebral artery stroke

Thrombolysis has been shown to improve neurological recovery in acute stroke. But the response to thrombolysis is variable across patients. We sought to investigate this variability by analyzing the lesion patterns following systemic thrombolysis with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) and tirofiban in middle cerebral artery (MCA) stroke. One hundred three consecutive stroke patients (67 ± 14 years) were grouped according to the site of MCA occlusion and successful or failed recanalization as assessed with magnetic resonance angiography. Infarct lesions were analyzed in T2-weighted magnetic resonance images after 10 days. Patients recovered markedly upon successful recanalization following thrombolysis (p