Table 1.

Details of included studies

Trial	Source	Trial period	Country	No of centres	No of patients*	Primary outcome	Enrolment criteria
							Age (years)	Symptom onset (hours)		NIHSS
								rt-PA	AIMT
IMS III28	Broderick et al, 2013	2006-12	USA, Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany, France, Netherlands	58	656	mRS ≤2 at 90 days	18-82	3	5	≥10‡
SYNTHESIS29	Ciccone et al, 2013	2008-12	Italy	24	362	mRS ≤1 at 90 days	18-80	4.5	6	≤25
MR RESCUE30	Kidwell et al, 2013	2004-11	USA, Canada	22	127	mRS scores at 90 days	18-85	4.5†	8	6-29
MR CLEAN31	Berkhemer et al, 2015	2010-14	Netherlands	16	500	mRS scores at 90 days	≥18	4.5†	6	≥2
ESCAPE32	Goyal et al, 2015	2013-14	Canada, USA, South Korea, Republic of Ireland, UK	22	315	Median mRS at 90 days	≥18	4.5†	12	Unrestricted
EXTEND-IA33	Campbell et al, 2015	2012-14	Australia, New Zealand	10	70	Reperfusion at 24 hours and NIHSS at 3 days	≥18	4.5	6	Unrestricted
SWIFT PRIME34	Saver et al, 2015	2012-15	USA, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria	39	196	mRS scores at 90 days	18-80	4.5	6	8-29
REVASCAT35	Jovin et al, 2015	2012-14	Spain	4	206	mRS scores at 90 days	18-85	4.5†	8	≥6
THERAPY36	Mocco et al, 2015	2012-15	USA, Germany	36	108	mRS ≤2 at 90 days	18-85	4.5§	5¶	≥8
THRACE37	Bracard et al, 2015	2010-15	France	26	385	mRS scores at 90 days	18-80	4	5	10-25

rt-PA=recombinant tissue plasminogen activator; AIMT=adjuvant intra-arterial mechanical thrombolysis; NIHSS=National Institute of Health stroke scale; mRS=modified Rankin scale.

*Intention to treat population.

†If ineligible.

‡≥8 if computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging angiographic evidence of internal carotid artery, first division of middle cerebral artery (M1), or basilar artery occlusion.

§A time limit of three hours was used for participants aged more than 80 years, with a history of stroke and diabetes, anticoagulant use, and NIHSS >25.

¶Initial protocol allowed up to eight hours, but revision limited to up to five hours (6.5% of participants were over five hours).