Betwixt and between: an idiomatic understanding of anesthesia in stroke intervention

After years of investigation, including substantial studies, opinions continue to shift regarding conscious sedation (CS) versus general anesthesia (GA) utilization in mechanical thrombectomy for emergent large vessel occlusion (ELVO) stroke. Early retrospective studies demonstrated that CS was superior,1 but subsequent randomized controlled trials failed to show the superiority of one method.2–4 Current research continues to explore the best use of anesthesia in acute ischemic stroke therapy.5–8 While consensus does not exist on whether CS or GA is safer and/or more beneficial for stroke interventions, there are strong arguments to support having an anesthesia team involved in all mechanical thrombectomy procedures, whatever method is chosen. The clearest reason an anesthesia team should be involved is that patient motion is not routinely predictable before a case. A person may appear calm, but when stimulated, patients...
Source: Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery - Category: Neurosurgery Authors: Tags: Editor ' s column Source Type: research