This study was designed to investigate possible diurnal fluctuations in the
efficacy of thrombolysis with streptokinase and whether they follow the ci
rcadian periodicity which has already been well documented for the time of
onset of acute myocardial infarction, transient myocardial ischaemia, sudde
n cardiac death, thrombotic stroke, and for the efficacy of thrombolysis wi
th tissue-type plasminogen and urokinase. A total of 156 consecutive patien
ts treated with streptokinase were studied retrospectively; success or fail
ure of thrombolysis was determined according to accepted clinical and angio
graphic criteria. A definite time peak for successful thrombolysis could be
detected at the late afternoon and early evening hours; between 16.00 and
20.00 h, 30.2% of all successful thrombolysis cases were observed compared
with 7.0% between 20.00 and 24.00 (p<0.05) or 10.5% between 00.00 and 04.00
(p<0.05). Between 16.00 and 20.00 h, 75.8% of treated patients had success
ful thrombolysis compared to 15.2% of failed treatments and 9% equivocal re
sults (p<0.001). Multiple regression analysis showed that the independent f
actor with the major impact on successful reperfusion was the actual time o
f thrombolysis (p=0.037), followed by the time delay from pain onset to str
eptokinase administration (p=0.020), while age and gender had much lesser i
mpact (p=0.328 and 0.215, respectively) and the individual risk factors eve
n less. These findings may have several clinical implications; dose adjustm
ent for the time of day may be required, with higher doses during morning h
ours, or preference for primary coronary angioplasty in order to avoid the
increase in bleeding complications related to higher doses of thrombolytic
agents.