Background and purpose
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of mechanical thrombectomy (MT) in patients with acute ischaemic stroke related to isolated and primary ...posterior cerebral artery (PCA) occlusions amongst the patients enrolled in the multicentre post‐market Trevo Registry.
Method
Amongst the 2008 patients enrolled in the Trevo Registry with acute ischaemic stroke due to large vessel occlusion treated by MT, 22 patients (1.1%) 10 females (45.5%), mean age 66.2 ± 14.3 years (range 28–91) had a PCA occlusion 17 P1 (77.3%) and five P2 occlusions (22.7%). Recanalization after the first Trevo (Stryker, Fremont, CA, USA) pass and at the end of the procedure was rated using the modified Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction (mTICI) score. Procedure‐related complications (i.e. groin puncture complication, perforation, symptomatic haemorrhage, embolus in a new territory) were also recorded. The modified Rankin Scale at 90 days was assessed.
Results
Median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale at admission was 14 (interquartile range 8–16). Stroke aetiology was cardio‐embolic in 68.2% of cases. Half of the patients (11/22) received intravenous tissue plasminogen activator. 54.5% of the patients were treated under general anaesthesia. Reperfusion (i.e. mTICI 2b or 3) after first pass was obtained in 65% of cases. Final mTICI 2b–3 reperfusion was obtained in all cases. Only one (4.5%) procedure‐related complication was recorded (puncture site) that resolved after surgery. At 90‐day follow‐up, modified Rankin Scale 0–2 was obtained in 59% of the patients and 9.1% died within the first 3 months after MT.
Conclusion
Mechanical thrombectomy for PCA occlusions seems to be safe (<5% procedure‐related complications) and effective. Larger repository datasets are needed.
The deployment of flow-diverter stents may be difficult to analyse on regular DSA. The purpose of our study was to investigate the clinical impact of stent-dedicated flat panel volume CT angiography ...to evaluate intraoperatively the satisfactory deployment of flow-diverter stents.
From January 2009 to April 2015, 83 consecutive patients (mean age, 51 years; 62 women) were treated in our institution with flow-diverter stents. Eighty-seven aneurysms (82 unruptured, 5 ruptured; 77 anterior, 10 posterior circulation) were treated in these 83 patients (4 patients had 2 aneurysms, both treated by means of flow-diverter stents). One patient was treated for a traumatic carotid cavernous fistula. In 80% of the cases (68/85) a flat panel volume CT angiography was performed in the angiographic suite just after the flow-diverter stent deployment. Stent visualization was assessed by 2 independent reviewers. The clinical impact of stent malapposition was evaluated.
Flow-diverter stent visualization was satisfactory in 73.5% of the cases. In 2 cases (2.9%) the flat panel volume CT angiography prompted the operator to perform an additional intrastent angioplasty for a condition that was previously underestimated. Four patients (4.7%) experienced acute thromboembolic complications; 3 others had delayed thromboembolic complications. Only 1 of these patients had thromboembolic complications (acute or delayed) related to stent misdeployment, which was easily managed intraoperatively with no clinical consequence.
Flat panel volume CT angiography is an interesting tool to depict flow-diverter stent misdeployment and may encourage the operator to perform intrastent angioplasty (2.9% of the cases in our experience) to reduce the risks of thromboembolic complications.
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