Treatment of patients with mild acute ischemic stroke and associated large vessel occlusion

Publication date: Available online 3 April 2016 Source:Journal of Clinical Neuroscience Author(s): Russell Cerejo, Esteban Cheng-Ching, Ferdinand Hui, M. Shazam Hussain, Ken Uchino, Jennifer Bullen, Gabor Toth Several recent studies have shown that patients presenting with mild acute ischemic stroke (mAIS) symptoms may have an unfavorable natural history. The presence of associated large vessel occlusion (LVO) may lead to even worse outcomes, but most mAIS patients are still excluded from acute stroke treatment (AST). A retrospective review of patients with acute ischemic stroke presenting to our institution between 2010 and 2014 was carried out. Inclusion criteria were mAIS (initial National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS] ⩽7) due to LVO, presenting within 6hours from onset. Demographics, treatments and short-term outcomes were analyzed. Favorable 30day outcome was defined as modified Rankin Scale (mRS) ⩽ 2. Out of 2636 patients, 62 patients (median age 63years, 33 (53.2%) males) met inclusion criteria. The anterior circulation was involved in 74.1%. Median admission NIHSS and pre-admission mRS were 4 and 0, respectively. Twenty-three patients (71.8%) received AST (intravenous tissue plasminogen activator: 14, intra-arterial therapy: 4, both: 5). Favorable outcomes were 4.5 times higher in treated (78.3%) versus untreated (53.8%) patients (odds ratio 4.5, 95% confidence interval 1.26–19.2; p=0.028). None of the treated patients had sympto...
Source: Journal of Clinical Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research