Acute Ischemic Stroke in Term Pregnancy Treated with Recombinant Tissue Plasminogen Activator

Abstract

Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) may be considered in acute ischemic strokes (AIS) occurring in pregnancy. This recommendation is based on case reports which had demonstrated the efficiency and safety of rtPA in early pregnancy. However, most of the pregnancy-related strokes occur in the peripartum period. There is a paucity of literature on the management of AIS in this clinically relevant period of pregnancy; with only 2 case reports describing the use of IV rt-PA in the last trimester. Here, we report a case of AIS in a full-term pregnancy treated successfully with intravenous rt-PA. The patient went on to have an uncomplicated vaginal delivery after 72 h post thrombolysis. To the best of our knowledge, this is only the third such case in the English literature.

Keywords

• acute ischemic stroke
• pregnancy
• recombinant tissue plasminogen activator