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...

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Because of slow recruitment rates, SPACE-2 had to be stopped after randomizing only 513 patients. The German Research Foundation will provide continued funding to enable follow up of all recruited patients, and it is also planned to include these data in any future meta-analysis prepared by the Carotid Stenosis Trialists Collaboration.

Moderate to severe (> or =70%) asymptomatic stenosis of the extracranial carotid artery leads to an increased rate of stroke of approximately 11% in 5 years. Patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis, however, are also at a higher risk of nonstroke vascular events. The estimated annual risks of such events in patients with asymptomatic stenosis are 7% for a coronary ischaemic event and 4-7% for overall mortality. The superiority of carotid endarterectomy compared with medical treatment in symptomatic carotid disease is established, provided that the surgical procedure can be performed with a perioperative morbidity and mortality of <6%. The advantage of carotid endarterectomy for asymptomatic patients is less established. An alternative treatment, carotid artery stenting, has been developed. This treatment is used frequently in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. In the last decade, major advantages in medical primary prevention of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease have been accomplished. The control groups in the large trials for asymptomatic carotid artery disease (ACAS and ACST) originate from more than a decade ago and, for the most part, have not received a medical primary prevention strategy that would now be considered the standard according to current national and international guidelines. For this reason, a three-arm trial (SPACE2; http://www.space-2.de) with a hierarchical design and a recruitment target of 3640 patients is chosen. Firstly, a superior trial of intervention (carotid artery stenting or carotid endarterectomy) vs. state-of-the-art conservative treatment is designed. In case of superiority of the interventions, a noninferiority end-point will be tested between carotid artery stenting and carotid endarterectomy. This trial is registered at Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN 78592017.