Thrombolytic Therapy in Acute Cerebral Infarction Complicating Diagnostic Cardiac Catheterization

Diagnostic and interventional percutaneous coronary catheterization is associated with stroke. Many of such strokes are asymptomatic, but some are devastating. Once the diagnosis of acute cerebral infarction is confirmed, thrombolytic therapy should be administrated within the time window of 3 hours. We report a 61-year-old woman who suffered from an acute cerebral infarction during diagnostic cardiac catheterization for unstable angina, which manifested as sudden onset of global aphasia, right hemiplegia and gaze preponderance to the left side. Computed tomography of the head performed immediately after recognition of the symptoms showed a hyperdense middle cerebral artery (MCA) sign. Following prompt recognition and diagnosis, intravenous thrombolytic therapy was administered 2 hours after symptom onset. The patient had a favorable outcome. Initially, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score was 21, and 24 hours later it improved to 9. The hyperdense MCA lesion had resolved on the 24-hour follow-up scan. This case illustrates the clinical benefit of thrombolytic therapy in the setting of acute stroke associated with cardiac catheterization.