Ultrasound Enhanced Thrombolysis: Applications in Acute Cerebral Ischemia

Intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) improves patient chances to recover from stroke by inducing mostly partial recanalization of large intracranial thrombi. TPA activity can be enhanced with ultrasound including 2 MHz transcranial Doppler (TCD). TCD identifies residual blood flow signals around thrombi, and, by delivering mechanical pressure waves, exposes more thrombus surface to circulating TPA. The international multi-center CLOTBUST trial showed that ultrasound enhances thrombolytic activity of a drug in humans thereby confirming multi-disciplinary experimental research conducted worldwide for the past 30 years. In the CLOTBUST trial, the dramatic clinical recovery from stroke coupled with complete recanalization within 2 hours after TPA bolus occurred in 25% of patients treated with TPA+TCD compared to 8% who received TPA alone (p=0.02). Complete clearance of a thrombus and dramatic recovery of brain functions during treatment are feasible goals for ultrasound-enhanced thrombolysis that can lead to sustained recovery. An early boost in brain perfusion seen in the Target CLOTBUST group resulted in a trend of 13% more patients achieving favorable outcome at 3 months, subject for a pivotal trial. However, different results were achieved in a small TRUMBI trial and another study that used Transcranial Color-Coded Duplex Sonography (TCCD). Adverse bio-effects of mid-KHz (300) ultrasound promote bleeding, including brain areas not-affected by ischemia while exposure to multi-frequency / multi-element duplex ultrasound resulted in a trend towards higher risk of hemorrhagic transformations. To further enhance the ability of TPA to break up thrombi, current ongoing clinical trials include phase II studies of a single beam 2 MHz TCD with perflutren-lipid microspheres. Enhancement of intra-arterial TPA delivery is being clinically tested with 1.7-2.1 MHz pulsed wave ultrasound (EKOS catheter). Multi-national dose escalation studies of microspheres and the development of an operator independent ultrasound device are underway.