Stent Retrievers Studied in Acute Basilar Artery Occlusions

October 21, 2015—Stent retriever thrombectomy might be an efficient and safe treatment for patients with acute basilar artery occlusion (BAO) and might help improve outcomes, concluded a study published by Angelo António Silva Carneiro, MD, et al online ahead of print in Interventional Neuroradiology.

According to the investigators, early arterial recanalization with stent retrievers demonstrated improved clinical outcome for patients with large-vessel occlusion of the anterior circulation; however, the benefit of stent retriever thrombectomy in the setting of acute BAO has not been proven yet. 

As summarized in Interventional Neuroradiology, this study evaluated a series of consecutive patients with BAO treated with stent retrievers, focusing on the efficacy, safety, and clinical results. The investigators analyzed 24 consecutive patients with acute BAO who were treated with mechanical thrombectomy using stent retrievers. Good clinical outcome at 3 months was defined as modified Rankin Score ≤ 2. Data from patients with good outcomse were compared to those from patients with poor outcomes.

The investigators found that sufficient recanalization (thrombolysis in cerebral infarction scale, TICI 2b or 3) was achieved in 63% (15/24) of patients. At 3 months, 33% (8/24) of patients had died; good clinical outcome was obtained in 21% (5/24). Age (46 vs 60 years) and time from symptoms onset to recanalization (370 vs 521 minutes) were significantly lower in patients with good outcome as compared to patients with poor outcome. The investigators reported that there were three cases (12.5%) of periprocedural complications, all related to arterial wall dissection/perforation.