Vascular Imaging Before Intravenous Thrombolysis: Consequences of In-Hospital Delay in Applying Two Diagnostic Procedures

BACKGROUNDVascular imaging is increasingly used for diagnosis of arterial occlusions in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients. Our aim was to determine whether computed tomography angiography (CTA) and Doppler/duplex ultrasound (DUS) before intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) is associated with a delay in time-to-treatment. METHODSObservational analysis of a prospective cohort of AIS patients treated with IVT from January 2009 to December 2012. Patients were classified into three groups: the noncontrast computed tomography (NCCT) group (patients studied only with NCCT before IVT), CTA group (patients who underwent CTA in addition to NCCT), and the DUS group (patients studied with NCCT+DUS). RESULTSWe treated 244 patients: 116 patients (47.5%) were studied with NCCT, 79 (32.4%) with CTA, and 49 (20.1%) with DUS. Door-to-needle time was significantly higher in the CTA group (median 60 [48-77] minutes) than in the NCCT group (51.5 [40-65]) and DUS group (48 [42-61]) (P = .008). No differences were observed for onset-to-door time and onset-to-needle time. In the multivariate linear regression analysis, onset-to-door time, prehospital stroke code activation, and performance of CTA influenced door-to-needle time. CONCLUSIONSPerforming CTA before IVT seems to increase door-to-needle time. Vascular imaging based on DUS should be considered only if this does not lead to in-hospital delay.