The character of haemostatic disorders and level of protein S-100 in acute ischaemic stroke can affect survival in the first week of follow-up: a pilot study.

Disorders of haemostasis which result in ischaemic stroke usually appear as thromboembolism in peripheral veins and the pulmonary circulation, and to a lesser extent as coagulopathy. The S-100 protein, a marker of stroke, correlates positively with the neurological deficit National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). We adopted the hypothesis that early death of patients with acute ischaemic stroke can be explained by changes in blood coagulation and fibrinolysis. The study included 84 patients hospitalized with acute ischaemic stroke. Three groups were created: I (death between 1 and 2 days), II (death between 5 and 7 days) and III (with no deaths in hospital). We measured levels of fibrinogen, antithrombin, D-dimers, plasmin-antiplasmin complexes, plasminogen and clotting times (prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time), platelet number, euglobulin clot lysis time (ECLTindex) and S-100 protein, C-reactive protein and white blood cells (WBCs). Group I had lower concentrations of fibrinogen compared to groups II (3.13 vs. 4.18, P<0.01) and III (3.13 vs. 3.77, P<0.02) and higher levels of D-dimers (3643 vs. 2278, P<0.05), higher concentrations of plasmin-antiplasmin complexes (1410 vs. 882, P=0.03) and a lower ECLTindex (152 vs. 219, P<0.02) when compared with group III. Group I also had higher concentrations of protein S-100 (2.09 vs. 0.61, P<0.001), higher NIHSS (18.0 vs. 13.2, P=0.073) and number of WBC (14.1 vs. 11.1, P<0.02) than in group III. The observed abnormalities in haemostasis, either found systemically or locally as cerebral microvascular thrombosis, may be factors potentially associated with death of patients with the shortest survival time.