The clinical study on the treatment for acute cerebral infarction by intra-arterial thrombolysis combined with mild hypothermia.

OBJECTIVE: This study was purposed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of the treatment for acute cerebral infarction by intra-arterial thrombolysis combined with mild hypothermia.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty patients, diagnosed with acute anterior circulation cerebral infarction and admitted to the Hospital between January 2013 and September 2015, were randomly divided into the control group and the mild hypothermia group, each group comprising 15 cases. The treatment of intra-arterial thrombolysis combined with mild hypothermia was administered to the mild hypothermia group, while only the treatment of intra-arterial thrombolysis was performed on the control group. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, Modified RANKIN Scale (MRS) score, cerebral hemorrhage transformation, pulmonary infection, and the incidence of gastrointestinal bleeding of the two groups were compared on day 14, 30, and 90 following the onset of the disease.

RESULTS: The prognosis (MRS score) of the group with mild hypothermia combined with intra-arterial thrombolysis was lower than that of the group treated only with intra-arterial thrombolysis (p < 0.05). The incidence of cerebral hemorrhage transformation of the group with mild hypothermia combined with intra-arterial thrombolysis was also lower than that of the control group (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of pulmonary infection and gastrointestinal bleeding between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of patients suffering from acute cerebral infarction by means of intra-arterial thrombolysis in combination with mild hypothermia can result in reduced risk of hemorrhagic transformation and improve clinical outcome.