Computational Simulations of Thrombolytic Therapy in Acute Ischaemic Stroke

Ischaemic stroke can occur when an artery to the brain is blocked by a blood clot. The use of thrombolytic agents, such as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), to dissolve the occluding clot is limited by the risk of intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH), a known side effect associated with tPA. We developed a computational thrombolysis model for a 3D patient-specific artery coupled with a compartmental model for temporal concentrations of tPA and lysis proteins during intravenous infusion of tPA, in order to evaluate the effects of tPA dose on the efficacy of thrombolytic therapy and the risk of ICH. The model was applied to a 3-mm-long fibrin clot with two different fibrin fibre radii in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) – a setting relevant to ischaemic stroke, and results for different tPA dose levels and fibrin fibre radii were compared. Our simulation results showed that clot lysis was accelerated at higher tPA doses at the expense of a substantial increase in the risk of ICH. It was also found that a fine clot with a smaller fibre radius dissolved much slowly than a coarse clot due to a slower tPA penetration into the clots.