Retrospective evaluation of mortality among stroke patients receiving thrombolytic therapy in the emergency department

Aims: Since strokes are an important cause of morbidity and mortality all over the world, early diagnosis and treatment are extremely important for sequela-free recovery. The best treatment option for an ischemic stroke is intravenous thrombolytic therapy with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator. In this study, we aimed to determine the factors affecting in-hospital mortality among patients who presented to the emergency department due to an ischemic stroke and received thrombolytic therapy. Methods: This cross-sectional study reviewed the medical records of patients who presented to the emergency department with stroke symptoms between January 2018 and August 2022, were diagnosed with ischemic stroke, received thrombolytic treatment within the first 4.5 hours of symptom onset, and were subsequently hospitalized. Results: After excluding patients who did not meet the inclusion criteria, 184 patients were included in the study. It was found that 42 (22.8%) of the patients had an exitus in the follow-up. We determined that the mortality rate was higher in patients admitted to the emergency department with emergency health services compared to outpatients (p