Campbell, B. C.V. et al. (2019) Penumbral imaging and functional outcome in patients with anterior circulation ischaemic stroke treated with endovascular thrombectomy versus medical therapy: a meta-analysis of individual patient-level data.ABSTRACT Background: CT-perfusion (CTP) and MRI may assist patient selection for endovascular thrombectomy. We aimed to establish whether imaging assessments of ischaemic core and penumbra volumes were associated with functional outcomes and treatment effect.

Campbell, B. C. V. et al. (2018) Effect of general anaesthesia on functional outcome in patients with anterior circulation ischaemic stroke having endovascular thrombectomy versus standard care: a meta-analysis of individual patient data. Lancet Neurology, 17(1), pp. 47-53. (doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(17)30407-6) This is the author's final accepted version.There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it.http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/149670/ variables. An alternative approach using propensity-score stratification was also used. To account for between-trial variance we used mixed-effects modeling with a random effect for trial incorporated in all models. Bias was assessed using the Cochrane tool.Findings: Of 1764 patients in 7 trials, 871 were allocated to endovascular thrombectomy. After exclusion of 74 patients (72 who did not undergo the procedure and 2 with missing data on anaesthetic strategy), 236/797 (30%) of endovascular patients were treated under GA. At baseline, GA patients were younger and had shorter time to randomisation but similar pre-treatment clinical severity compared to non-GA. Endovascular thrombectomy improved functional outcome at 3 months versus standard care in both GA (adjusted common odds ratio (cOR) 1·52, 95%CI 1·09-2·11, p=0·014) and non-GA (adjusted cOR 2·33, 95%CI 1·75-3·10, p<0·001) patients. However, outcomes were significantly better for those treated under non-GA versus GA (covariate-adjusted cOR 1·53, 95%CI 1·14-2·04, p=0·004; propensitystratified cOR 1·44 95%CI 1·08-1·92, p=0·012). The risk of bias and variability among studies was assessed to be low.Interpretation: Worse outcomes after endovascular thrombectomy were associated with GA, after adjustment for baseline prognostic variables. These data support avoidance of GA whenever possible. The procedure did, however, remain effective versus standard care in patients treated under GA, indicating that treatment should not be withheld in those who require anaesthesia for medical reasons. Funding:The HERMES collaboration was funded by an unrestricted grant from Medtronic to the University of Calgary. Research in contextEvidence before this study between abolition of the thrombectomy treatment effect in MR CLEAN and no effect in THRACE. Three single-centre randomised trials of general anaesthesia versus conscious sedation found either no difference in functional outcome between groups or a slight benefit of general anaesthesia. Added value of this studyThese data from contemporary, high quality randomised trials form the largest study to date of the association between general anesthesia and the benefit of endovascular thrombectomy versus standard care. We used two different approaches to adjust for baseline imbalances (multivariable logistic regression and propensity-score stratification). We found that GA for endovascular thrombectomy, as practiced in contemporary clinical care across a wide range of expert centres during the rand...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:In past years, thrombectomy has become a widely used procedure in interventional neuroradiology for the treatment of acute intracranial occlusions. However, in 10 -20% of patients, there are additional occlusions or stenotic lesions of the ipsilateral cervical internal carotid artery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of emergency carotid artery stent placement in combination with intracranial thrombectomy and the clinical outcome of the treated patients.

e-ASPECTS showed a similar performance to that of stroke experts in the assessment of brain computed tomographys of acute ischemic stroke patients with the Alberta Stroke Program Early CT score method.

Background and Purpose— Thrombosis of cerebral veins and sinus (cerebral venous thrombosis) is a rare stroke pathogenesis. Pharmaceutical treatment is restricted to heparin and oral anticoagulation with vitamin K antagonists (VKAs). Methods— Between January 2012 and December 2013, we recorded data from our patients with cerebral venous thrombosis. The modified Rankin scale was used to assess clinical severity; excellent outcome was defined as modified Rankin scale 0 to 1. Recanalization was assessed on follow-up MR angiography. Patients were then divided into 2 treatment groups: phenprocoumon (VKA) and a novel factor Xa inhibitor. Clinical and radiological baseline data, outcome, recanalization status, and complications were retrospectively compared. Results— Sixteen patients were included, and 7 were treated with rivaroxaban. Overall outcome was excellent in 93.8%, and all patients showed at least partial recanalization. No statistical significant differences were found between the groups, except the use of heparin before start of oral anticoagulation ( P =0.03). One patient in the VKA and 2 patients in the factor Xa inhibitor group had minor bleeding ( P =0.55) within the median (range) follow-up of 8 months (5–26). Conclusions— Factor Xa inhibitor showed a similar clinical benefit as VKA in the treatment of cerebral venous thrombosis. Further systematic prospective evaluation is warranted.

Background and Purpose: This study assessed the predictive performance and relative importance of clinical, multimodal imaging, and angiographic characteristics for predicting the clinical outcome of endovascular treatment for acute ischemic stroke. Methods: A consecutive series of 246 patients with acute ischemic stroke and large vessel occlusion in the anterior circulation who underwent endovascular treatment between April 2014 and January 2018 was analyzed. Clinical, conventional imaging (electronic Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score, acute ischemic volume, site of vessel occlusion, and collateral score), and advanced imaging characteristics (CT-perfusion with quantification of ischemic penumbra and infarct core volumes) before treatment as well as angiographic (interval groin puncture-recanalization, modified Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction score) and postinterventional clinical (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score after 24 hours) and imaging characteristics (electronic Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score, final infarction volume after 18–36 hours) were assessed. The modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score at 90 days (mRS-90) was used to measure patient outcome (favorable outcome: mRS-90 ≤2 versus unfavorable outcome: mRS-90 >2). Machine-learning with gradient boosting classifiers was used to assess the performance and relative importance of the extracted characteristics for predicting mRS-90. Results: Baseline clinical and conventional imaging characteristics predicted mRS-90 with an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.740 (95% CI, 0.733–0.747) and an accuracy of 0.711 (95% CI, 0.705–0.717). Advanced imaging with CT-perfusion did not improved the predictive performance (area under the receiver operating characteristics curve, 0.747 [95% CI, 0.740–0.755]; accuracy, 0.720 [95% CI, 0.714–0.727]; P =0.150). Further inclusion of angiographic and postinterventional characteristics significantly improved the predictive performance (area under the receiver operating characteristics curve, 0.856 [95% CI, 0.850–0.861]; accuracy, 0.804 [95% CI, 0.799–0.810]; P <0.001). The most important parameters for predicting mRS 90 were National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score after 24 hours (importance =100%), premorbid mRS score (importance =44%) and final infarction volume on postinterventional CT after 18 to 36 hours (importance =32%). Conclusions: Integrative assessment of clinical, multimodal imaging, and angiographic characteristics with machine-learning allowed to accurately predict the clinical outcome following endovascular treatment for acute ischemic stroke. Thereby, premorbid mRS was the most important clinical predictor for mRS-90, and the final infarction volume was the most important imaging predictor, while the extent of hemodynamic impairment on CT-perfusion before treatment had limited importance.

The recanalization rate of CSVT under OAC was high and the median time to CRec was 6 months. Thrombosis of the superior sagittal sinus is a positive predictor of recanalization. Outcome in this cohort was excellent but no significant association of outcome and recanalization status was found.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Flow-diverter stents are emerging for the endovascular treatment of difficult-to-treat or otherwise untreatable cerebral aneurysms (wide-neck, fusiform, dissecting, blisterlike, or giant). We assessed the clinical safety and efficacy of the Flow-Redirection Endoluminal Device.