All patients had magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including diffusion-weighted imaging BTK inhibitor mw (DWI) and MRA before tPA administration. Follow-up MRA was performed immediately after the end of tPA infusion, if possible. We could monitor residual flow in 5 patients who had good echo windows (4 male, mean age; 60.8 ± 6.4 years). Two patients had proximal occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCA), one patient had distal occlusion of the MCA, one patient had a M2 occlusion and one patient had a distal occlusion of the unilateral vertebral artery.

One patient with proximal MCA occlusion had an insufficient acoustic window, but we could monitor residual flow at M2. Four patients had early complete recanalization within 60 min after the t-PA bolus – two patients at 60 min and other two patients at 30 min. In the patient who could be monitored at M2, one of M2 (M2a) was partial at 30 min, another M2 (M2b) www.selleckchem.com/products/Bortezomib.html was complete at 30 min. On the other hand, the occlusion persisted during 120 min monitoring in one patient with proximal occlusion of MCA. NIH Stroke Scale of two patients with very early recanalization (within 30 min) was 0 at the end of the treatment (dramatic clinical recovery). In

three patients a follow-up MRA could be performed after the end of tPA infusion. Follow-up MRA showed early recanalization in two patients and no recanalization in one patient. These findings of MRA were consistent with diagnosis of TCCS. There was no symptomatic and asymptomatic intracranial hemorrhage in 4 patients except for the patients without recanalization. Table 1 shows clinical detail data of 5 patients, and Fig.

1 shows the information of TCCS und MRA in patients with very early recanalization (within 30 min). The present study showed that patients with early recanalization had a favorable outcome after tPA therapy. In these studies, recanalization after tPA was evaluated by MRA [6] and [7] or TCD [2] and [3]. There are different benefits and limitations between MRA and TCD/TCCS in their diagnostic ability and characteristics as a diagnostic device. MRI is the standard device for the detection of vessel 17-DMAG (Alvespimycin) HCl occlusion or stenosis, however, it cannot be monitored during tPA infusion because patients who get a MRI have to be transferred to the MRI laboratory. On the other hand, TCD/TCCS is useful for real-time evaluation of intracranial hemodynamics at patient’s bedside. Several cases, however, had an insufficient acoustic window especially in Asian elderly female. In TCD study (2), 25% patients recanalized within the first 30 min, 50% recanalized within 30–60 min, 11% recanalized 61–120 min, and 14% recanalized after first 2 h after tPA bolus administration.