Table 5. Subgroup meta-analysis results of rtPA’s effect on infarction volume.
| Subgroups | No. of studies (animals) | SMDs (95% CI) | Within-group heterogeneity | Effect of subgroup | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chi2 within | p-value | %variance explaineda) | Chi2 between | p-value | %variance explainedb) | |||
| Ischemic model | ||||||||
| filament | 4 (67) | 0.37 (-1.48 to 2.21) | 23.8 | 0.000 | 87% | |||
| ligation | 2 (24) | 0.67 (-1.82 to 3.15) | 6.92 | 0.009 | 86% | 0.04 | 0.85 | 0.12% |
| Duration of ischemia | ||||||||
| permenant | 3 (36) | 0.72 (-0.70 to 2.13) | 7.32 | 0.030 | 73% | |||
| transient | 3 (55) | 0.01 (-2.70 to 2.72) | 23.38 | 0.000 | 91% | 0.2 | 0.65 | 1.98% |
| Evaluation methodology | ||||||||
| TTC | 5 (79) | 0.37 (-1.33 to 2.06) | 32.89 | 0.000 | 88% | |||
| HE | 1 (12) | 0.52 (-0.18 to 1.21) | - | - | - | 0.25 | 0.62 | 1.88% |
| STAIR score | ||||||||
| < = 3 | 2 (43) | 1.87 (1.12 to 2.61) | 0.04 | 0.850 | 0% | |||
| > = 4 | 4 (48) | -0.35 (-2.38 to 1.67) | 22.47 | 0.000 | 87% | 4.06 | 0.04 | 12.34% |
A positive value of SMD means that tPA deficient mice has decreased infarction volume and endogenous tPA presents neurotoxicity after ischemic stroke.
SMD, standardized means difference; CI, confidence interval; TTC, 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride; HE, hematoxylin eosin staining; STAIR, Stroke Therapy Academic Industry Roundtable.
a) Percentage of variance within group explained by heterogeneity is given by I2.
b) Percentage of variance explained by moderator variable is given by Chi2 between/Chi2 total, where Chi2 total = 32.91.