Sexual dimorphism in peripheral blood cell characteristics linked to recanalization success of endovascular thrombectomy in acute ischemic stroke

AbstractEndovascular thrombectomy (EVT) success to treat  acute ischemic stroke varies with factors like stroke etiology and clot composition, which can differ between sexes. We studied if sex-specific blood cell characteristics (BCCs) are related to recanalization success. We analyzed electronic health records of 333 EVT patients from a single interve ntion center, and extracted 71 BCCs from the Sapphire flow cytometry analyzer. Through Sparse Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis, incorporating cross-validation and stability selection, we identified BCCs associated with successful recanalization (TICI 3) in both sexes. Stroke etiology was considered, while controlling for cardiovascular risk factors. Of the patients, successful recanalization was achieved in 51% of women and 49% of men. 21 of the 71 BCCs showed significant differences between sexes  (pFDR-corrected <  0.05). The female-focused recanalization model had lower error rates than both combined [t(192.4) = 5.9, p <  0.001] and male-only models [t(182.6) = − 15.6, p <  0.001]. In women, successful recanalization and cardioembolism were associated with a higher number of reticulocytes, while unsuccessful recanalization and large artery atherosclerosis (LAA) as cause of stroke were associated with a higher mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration. In men, unsuc cessful recanalization and LAA as cause of stroke were associated with a higher coefficient of variance o...
Source: Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis - Category: Hematology Source Type: research