Thrombolytic therapy of acute basilar artery (BA) thrombosis has been shown
to reduce mortality and avoid a fatal outcome. Objective of this study was
to investigate the long-term clinical outcome following intra-arterial fib
rinolysis of occlusions of the BA. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical
records acid neuroradiologic results of 20 consecutive patients who had in
tra-arterial fibrinolysis of acute occlusions of the BA between 1982 and 19
90. All patients were followed neurologically for a period of up to 12 year
s, including assessment of the Barthel index (BI) and brain CT or MRI studi
es. At the time of treatment, 6 patients were somnolent and 14 comatose, an
d tetraparesis was present in 15. The time between the onset of symptoms an
d treatment ranged from 1 to 48 h. The mortality rate was 35% (7/20 patient
s). Functional outcome was excellent in 9, 78%, of 13 survivors (BI <85). D
uring the cumulative follow-up period (125 patient years) there was 1 death
from myocardial infarction and 1 death from pneumonia. Vascular events dur
ing follow-up were myocardial infarction (n = 3) and a single cerebral tran
sient ischemic attack. Despite the fact that our series was biased towards
patients with severe symptoms, 65% (13/20) survived, and 78% of the survivo
rs reached independence in daily life. These results provide evidence that
local fibrinolysis of BA occlusion reduces mortality, and the long-term pro
gnosis of the survivors is better than previously thought. None of our pati
ents had a further stroke during the follow-up period, which indicates that
acute BA occlusion is not a strong indicator for advanced arteriosclerotic
disease. Copyroght (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.