TY - JOUR T1 - Thrombolysis with alteplase 3–4.5 hours after acute ischaemic stroke: trial reanalysis adjusted for baseline imbalances JF - BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine JO - BMJ EBM DO - 10.1136/bmjebm-2020-111517 SP - bmjebm-2020-111517 AU - Daniel Michael Fatovich AU - Wm Ken Milne Y1 - 2020/08/10 UR - http://ebm.bmj.com/content/early/2020/08/10/bmjebm-2020-111517.abstract N2 - We congratulate Alper et al for their reanalysis of the Third European Cooperative Acute Stroke Study.1 They found that after adjusting for baseline imbalances in history of prior stroke and stroke severity, there was no statistical benefit with alteplase, but the harms were reconfirmed. So, the difference in outcome could be fully explained by the baseline imbalance. It is worth remembering that a clinical trial has internal validity if and only if the imbalance between groups, bias in the … ER -