Impact of dual antiplatelet therapy on patients with minor stroke after thrombolysis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Intravenous thrombolysis for acute minor ischaemic strokes did not provide any benefit in the recent TEMPO-2 trial. In general, single antiplatelet agents are used to improve the outcomes after thrombolysis. This systematic review was done to assess the impact of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after thrombolysis in patients with minor stroke. Materials and methods: A literature search was performed on PubMed, The Cochrane Library and Science Direct for articles between 2016 and 2024. All studies included patients with minor stroke, aged ≥18 years, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score of ≤5 (or 3) and those who received thrombolysis prior to DAPT. The primary endpoint was modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 0-1 at 90 days. The quality of the studies was assessed using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. Risk ratios (RRs) were calculated, and subgroup analysis was done. Results: Only 4 out of 4364 studies originally retrieved met the inclusion criteria and were included. The analysis showed that the mRS score improvement at 90 days was almost similar in both DAPT and single antiplatelet therapy (SAPT) groups (RR 1.09; 95% CI (0.98, 1.21), p=0.11). Risk of symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage (SICH) (RR 0.65; 95% CI (0.11, 3.97), p=0.64) and stroke recurrence (RR 0.88; 95% CI (0.44, 1.78), p=0.64) was reduced with DAPT compared with SAPT without any major significance. Conclusion: While these findings could not establish the superiority of DAPT over SAPT, DAPT showed slightly better results in functional outcomes, reducing the risk of stroke recurrence and SICH after thrombolysis in patients with minor stroke. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42024593717.