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World J Clin Cases. Mar 16, 2026; 14(8): 117167
Published online Mar 16, 2026. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v14.i8.117167
Published online Mar 16, 2026. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v14.i8.117167
Correlation between esmolol usage in the acute phase of ischemic stroke and outcomes of patients undergoing intravenous thrombolysis
Panagiotis Papamichalis, Katerina G Oikonomou, Maria Xanthoudaki, Antonios Papadogoulas, Periklis Katsiafylloudis, Evangelia Papapostolou, Kyriaki Parisi, Achilleas Chovas, Intensive Care Unit, General Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41221, Thessaly, Greece
Sophia K Papathanasiou, Dimitrios Plageras, Department of Internal Medicine, General Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41221, Thessaly, Greece
Apostolia Lemonia Skoura, Department of Transfusion Medicine, University Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41110, Thessaly, Greece
Asimina Valsamaki, Konstantinos Mantzarlis, Department of Critical Care, University Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41110, Thessaly, Greece
Michail Papamichalis, Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41110, Thessaly, Greece
Athanasios Koukoulis, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa 41500, Thessaly, Greece
Georgios D Koukoulis, Department of Surgery, General Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41221, Greece
Grigorios Papapostolou, Department of Neurology, General Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41221, Thessaly, Greece
Vasileios Siokas, Efthimios Dardiotis, Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Larissa, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Mezourlo Hill, Larissa 41110, Thessaly, Greece
Author contributions: Papamichalis P, Papathanasiou SK, Skoura AL, and Oikonomou KG designed the article; Skoura AL, Xanthoudaki M, Papadogoulas A, Valsamaki A, Plageras D, Papamichalis M, Katsiafylloudis P, Papapostolou E, Koukoulis A, Koukoulis GD, Parisi K, Papapostolou G, and Siokas V assisted in data gathering; Papamichalis P, Papathanasiou SK, Skoura AL, and Oikonomou KG wrote the final version of the manuscript; Oikonomou KG performed English editing; Papamichalis P and Papathanasiou SK performed statistical analysis; Mantzarlis K, Siokas V, Dardiotis E, and Chovas A critically reviewed the paper; All authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of General Hospital of Larissa, approval number 234 (February 5, 2025).
Informed consent statement: Due to the retrospective nature of the study and in accordance with the Institutional review board statement, informed consent statement was waived.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: Data that support the findings of this study will be available upon request at the e-mail address of the corresponding author (ppapamih@med.uth.gr) for research purposes.
Corresponding author: Panagiotis Papamichalis, MD, PhD, Intensive Care Unit, General Hospital of Larissa, 1 Tsakalof, Larissa 41221, Thessaly, Greece. ppapamih@med.uth.gr
Received: December 1, 2025
Revised: January 31, 2026
Accepted: February 25, 2026
Published online: March 16, 2026
Processing time: 106 Days and 9.2 Hours
Revised: January 31, 2026
Accepted: February 25, 2026
Published online: March 16, 2026
Processing time: 106 Days and 9.2 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Various drugs, including esmolol, are used for managing elevated arterial blood pressure before intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke. This study evaluated baseline characteristics and outcomes of 149 patients with a focus on esmolol-treated and esmolol-untreated groups. Sub-group analysis was performed to compare the outcomes between the esmolol-treated and esmolol-untreated subgroups among the following patient groups: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF); patients without AF; patients with a history of hypertension; patients without a history of hypertension. Esmolol usage resulted in poor outcomes for the overall cohort, patients without AF, and patients without a history of hypertension but not for patients with AF and patients with a history of hypertension.