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The aim of the present prospective study was to investigate whether hyperglycemia influences the clinical outcome or the infarct size after intravenous thrombolysis of focal cerebral ischemia. A consecutive series of hyperglycemic (n = 14) and normoglycemic patients (n = 17) with acute focal cerebral ischemia (<3 h) in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory received rtPA (0.9 mg/kg body weight) intravenously. Clinical outcome was measured using the NIH Stroke Score on admission and was followed up until day 28. Infarct volume was measured by diffusion-weighted MR imaging on admission, on days 3 and 7. There was a significantly better neurological outcome on day 28 in the normoglycemic patients than in the hyperglycemic group (NIH SS 4.0 versus 7.4; p < 0.05). The infarction volume increased significantly in the hyperglycemic patients Delta = 39.9 plus minus 17.4% compared to normoglycemic patients Delta = 27.1 plus minus 14.1% (p < 0.05). The present study suggests that hyperglycemia in patients with a focal MCA ischemia can cause a worse clinical outcome despite recanalization of the occluded vessel by thrombolysis therapy. This correlates with a markedly larger increase of the infarction volume in the hyperglycemic group. These results may be explained by an accentuated lactate accumulation and pH decrease by elevated energy levels which cannot be compensated by restoration of blood flow alone.
Els et al. (Tue,) studied this question.