Echoplanar imaging thrombolytic evaluation trial

Davis SM, Donnan GA, Parsons MW for the EPITHET Investigators (2008). Effects of alteplase beyond 3 h after stroke in the Echoplanar Imaging Thrombolytic Evaluation Trial (EPITHET) a placebo-controlled randomised trial. Lancet Neurology 7 299-309... 

Davis SM, Donnan GA, Parsons MW, Levi C, Butcher KS, Peelers A, Barber PA, Bladin C, De Silva DA, Byrnes G, Chalk JB, Fink JN, Kimber TE, Schultz D, Hand PJ, Frayne J, Hankey G, Muir K, Gerraty R, Tress BM, Desmond PM. Effects of alteplase beyond 3 h after stroke in the echoplanar imaging thrombolytic evaluation trial (epithet) A placebo-controlled randomised trial. Lancet Neurol. 2008 7 299-309... 

De Silva, D.A., et al., Assessing reperfusion and recanali-zation as markers of clinical outcomes after intravenous thrombolysis in the echoplanar imaging thrombolytic evaluation trial (EPITHET). Stroke, 2009. 40(8) p. 2872-4. 

It has been proposed that the phenomenon of DWI lesion reversal means that patients without perfusion-diffusion mismatch may still benefit from thrombolytic therapy (Kidwell et al. 2000). However, others consider more research is needed before adopting such an approach into clinical practice (Schellinger et al. 2003). We have not found that non-mismatch patients benefited from thrombolysis compared to historical controls (Parsons et al. 2002a). The ongoing Australasian Echoplanar Imaging Thrombolysis Evaluation Trial (EPITHET) has been designed, in part, to answer the question of whether non-mismatch patients benefit from thrombolysis (Parsons et al. 2002a). 

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