Precaution
Use caution in recent major surgery, cerebrovascular disease, HTN, acute pericarditis, hemostatic defects, severe thrombophlebitis, severe hepatic/renal dysfunction Avoid intramuscular injections Monitor for bleeding; discontinue therapy if serious bleeding occurs Monitor patients during and for several hours after infusion for orolingual angioedema; discontinue therapy if angioedema develops Cholesterol embolism reported rarely in patients treated with thrombolytic agents Consider risk of reembolization from lysis of underlying deep venous thrombi in patients with pulmonary embolism Internal bleeding (intracranial, retroperitoneal, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, respiratory) or external bleeding, especially at arterial and venous puncture sites may occur Avoid intramuscular injections and trauma to patient while on therapy Perform venipunctures carefully and only as required Minimize bleeding from noncompressible sites by avoiding internal jugular and subclavian venous punctures If arterial puncture necessary during therapy infusion, use upper extremity vessel that is accessible to manual compression, apply pressure for at least 30 min, and monitor puncture site closely Patients treated for acute ischemic stroke, with high risk of intracranial hemorrhage, should be treated at facilities that can provide timely access to appropriate evaluation and management of intracranial hemorrhage Coronary thrombolysis may result in reperfusion arrhythmias Patients who present within 3 hr of stroke symptom onset, should be treated with alteplase unless contraindications exist; longer time window (3-4.5 hr after symptom onset) shown to be safe and efficasious for select individuals; treatment of patients with minor neurological symptoms not recommended Alteplase does not treat adequately underlying deep vein thromposis in patients with pulmonary embolism; consider possible risk of re-embolization due to lysis of underlying deep venous thrombi in this setting Lactation: Excretion in milk unknown; use with caution