Cerebrovascular Complications of Streptokinase Infusion

Ninety-one patients treated with streptokinase for vascular occlusion were studied retrospectively to document the incidence of cerebral hemorrhage. Three cerebrovascular complications occurred. Two patients had cerebral hemorrhage, one following limb ischemia, the other after acute myocardial infarction. The third patient received streptokinase for an occluded right subclavian bypass graft and suffered a right frontoparietal infarction, presumably secondary to retrograde embolization, but not angiographically proved. This incidence of cerebrovascular complications must be taken within the framework of the baseline incidence following systemic ischemia, but suggests that caution be exercised with this therapy.