Abstract
Background:
Mechanical thrombectomy is established for large vessel occlusions in acute ischemic stroke, but the potential role in distal vessel occlusions of medium arteries is largely unknown. Such distal arterial segments have not been measured with respect to thrombectomy devices used during endovascular therapy. We conducted a systematic analysis of arterial size, segmental anatomy and stent retriever device performance during thrombectomy.
Methods:
The STRATIS angiography core lab adjudicated the exact location of the occlusion, proximal and distal device deployment, relationship to arterial bifurcations and anatomical nomenclature. Arterial diameters were measured at all of these sites. Statistical analyses examined the relationship between these variables, arterial recanalization and eTICI reperfusion.
Results:
Thrombectomy was performed with various device sizes, including Solitaire 4x40 in 36.3% (306/844), Solitaire 6x30 in 31.4% (265/844), Solitaire 4x20 in 26.4% (223/844), unspecified in 3.8% (32/844), Solitaire 6x20 in 1.3% (11/844) and Solitaire 4x15 in 0.8% (7/844). Arterial diameter at the occlusion site was median 2.17mm (1.40-3.59) in the distal M1, 1.67mm (0.81-2.98) in the proximal M2, 1.50mm (0.92-1.99) in the distal M2, 1.24mm (0.67-2.00) in the M3 and 1.88mm (1.49-1.94) in the P1. Considerable overlap was noted between arterial sizes at occlusion sites carrying different segmental arterial nomenclature or vessel names. During device deployment in STRATIS, median arterial diameter at the occlusion site was 2.4mm (IQR 1.9, 3.4), 2.9mm (IQR 2.2, 3.6) at the proximal stent marker and 1.4mm (IQR 1.2, 1.7) at the distal stent marker. Substantial eTICI reperfusion (2b-3) was achieved in all distal vessel occlusions (Table 1).
Conclusions:
Substantial reperfusion may be achieved with currently available mechanical thrombectomy devices for distal vessel occlusions in medium arteries.