This 66 year old African American woman presented with an acute stroke and was brought in by her daughter. She had a CTA done which showed questionable luminal narrowing of the distal left middle cerebral artery, and was given a 9 mg bolus dose of intravenous TPA over two minutes and 81 mg given over the following hour. Her past medical history includes diet controlled diabetes, obesity, hypertension, ulcerative colitis, a prior MI in 1988, and a possible old stroke. Her medications are aspirin 325 mg and Asacol, although she was unsure of the dose. Blood pressure was 138/76, heart rate was 80 and paced, and she had a right field compromise difficulty crossing the midline with a right upper motor neuron seventh weakness and decreased power on the right side of the face. After the TPA, her language returned completely to normal. Protocol for the stroke was followed, including blood pressure monitoring, nasal oxygen, and no antiplatelet therapy for 24 hours. Head of bed was raised to 30 degrees and a head CT was repeated the following morning. An echocardiogram showed normal ventricular size and systolic function, trace aortic insufficiency, trace mitral regurgitation, and persistent atrial flutter. She was coumadinized and discharged without rehabilitation on 0/21/99 on Coumadin with a plan for complete cardioversion within one month.
has there been a prior bolus
bolus dose of intravenous TPA over two minutes and 81 mg given over the following hour.