Increased peripheral leukocyte aggravates brain injury and leads to poor outcome in stroke patients receiving intravenous thrombolysis: A study based on clinical evidence.

Whether the dynamic development of peripheral inflammation aggravates brain injury and leads to poor outcome in stroke patients receiving intravenous thrombolysis (IVT), remains unclear and warrants further study. In this study, total of 1034 patients with acute ischemic stroke who underwent IVT were enrolled. Serum leukocyte variation (whether increase from baseline to 24 h after IVT), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), infarct volume, early neurologic deterioration (END), the unfavorable outcome at 3-month (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] score ≥3) and mortality were recorded. Serum brain injury biomarkers, including Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), ubiquitin c-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1), S100β, neuron-specific enolase (NSE), were measured to reflect the extent of brain injury. We found that patients with increased serum leukocytes had elevated brain injury biomarkers (GFAP, UCH-L1, and S100β), larger infarct volume, higher 24 h NIHSS, higher proportion of END, unfavorable outcome and mortality. Furthermore, an increase in serum leukocytes was independently associated with infarct volume, 24 h NIHSS, END, and unfavorable outcome at 3 months, and serum UCH-L1, S100β, and NSE levels. These results suggest that an increase in serum leukocytes indicates severe brain injury and may be used to predict the outcome of patients with ischemic stroke who undergo IVT.