Total cholesterol affects the outcome of patients with anterior cerebral artery-occluded acute ischemic stroke treated with thrombolysis

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we investigated whether certain types of lipid profiles are major contributors of acute ischemic stroke (AIS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We screened 13,285 hospitalized patients in two stroke medical centers treated with thrombolysis, thrombectomy, or conventional care for anterior cerebral artery-occluded AIS, and found 266 patients. We examined their plasma lipid profiles using the cutoff values from a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. We applied a multivariate logistic regression or Fisher's exact test to compare their outcomes and risk factors. We used the modified Rankin scale (mRS) score to assess the major clinical outcome of the patients 3 months after disease onset. Mortality and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) were both evaluated as risk factors. We analyzed symptoms' improvements at discharge as a disease outcome measure. RESULTS: In the patients with anterior cerebral artery-occluded AIS (NIHSS >= 10) treated by intravenous (IV) thrombolysis, a total cholesterol (TC) level greater than 5.07 mmol/L predicted a poor outcome (OR 3.55, 95% CI 1.21,10.46, p=0.021). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with anterior cerebral artery-occluded AIS, the TC level is a promising prognosis marker for the IV thrombolysis outcome.