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Purpose: The management of tandem extracranial internal carotid artery and intracranial large vessel occlusion during endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) has been under-investigated. We sought to investigate outcomes of AIS patients with tandem occlusion (TO) treated with carotid artery stenting (CAS) compared to those not treated with CAS (no-CAS) during EVT., Methods: We performed a cohort study using data from AIS patients enrolled in the Italian Registry of Endovascular Treatment in Acute Stroke. Outcomes were 3 months' mortality, functional outcome, complete and successful recanalization, any intracranial hemorrhage, parenchymal hematoma and symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage., Results: Among 466 AIS patients with TO, CAS patients were 122 and no-CAS patients were 226 (118 excluded). After adjustment for unbalanced variables, CAS was associated with a lower rate of 3 months' mortality (OR 0.407, 95% CI 0.171-0.969, p = 0.042). After adjustment for pre-defined variables, CAS was associated with a lower rate of 3 months' mortality (aOR 0.430, 95% CI 0.187-0.989, p = 0.047) and a higher rate of complete recanalization (aOR 1.986, 95% CI 1.121-3.518, p = 0.019), successful recanalization (aOR 2.433, 95% CI 1.263-4.686, p = 0.008) and parenchymal hematoma (aOR 2.876, 95% CI 1.173-7.050, p = 0.021). CAS was associated with lower 3 months mortality (OR 0.373, 95% CI 0.141-0.982, p = 0.046) and higher rates of successful recanalization (OR 2.082, 95% CI 1.099-3.942, p = 0.024) after adjustment for variables associated with 3 months' mortality and successful recanalization, respectively., Conclusions: Among AIS patients with TO, CAS during EVT was associated with a higher rate of successful reperfusion and a lower rate of 3 months' mortality., (© 2022. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Belgian Neurological Society.)

Background: There are limited data concerning procedure-related complications of endovascular thrombectomy for large vessel occlusion strokes., Aims: We evaluated the cumulative incidence, the clinical relevance in terms of increased disability and mortality, and risk factors for complications., Methods: From January 2011 to December 2017, 4799 patients were enrolled by 36 centers in the Italian Registry of Endovascular Stroke Treatment. Data on demographic and procedural characteristics, complications, and clinical outcome at three months were prospectively collected., Results: The complications cumulative incidence was 201 per 1000 patients undergoing endovascular thrombectomy. Ongoing antiplatelet therapy (p < 0.01; OR 1.82, 95% CI: 1.21-2.73) and large vessel occlusion site (carotid-T, p < 0.03; OR 3.05, 95% CI: 1.13-8.19; M2-segment-MCA, p < 0.01; OR 4.54, 95% CI: 1.66-12.44) were associated with a higher risk of subarachnoid hemorrhage/arterial perforation. Thrombectomy alone (p < 0.01; OR 0.50, 95% CI: 0.31-0.83) and younger age (p < 0.04; OR 0.98, 95% CI: 0.97-0.99) revealed a lower risk of developing dissection. M2-segment-MCA occlusion (p < 0.01; OR 0.35, 95% CI: 0.19-0.64) and hypertension (p < 0.04; OR 0.77, 95% CI: 0.6-0.98) were less related to clot embolization. Higher NIHSS at onset (p < 0.01; OR 1.04, 95% CI: 1.02-1.06), longer groin-to-reperfusion time (p < 0.01; OR 1.05, 95% CI: 1.02-1.07), diabetes (p < 0.01; OR 1.67, 95% CI: 1.25-2.23), and LVO site (carotid-T, p < 0.01; OR 1.96, 95% CI: 1.26-3.05; M2-segment-MCA, p < 0.02; OR 1.62, 95% CI: 1.08-2.42) were associated with a higher risk of developing symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage compared to no/asymptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage. The subgroup of patients treated with thrombectomy alone presented a lower risk of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (p < 0.01; OR 0.70; 95% CI: 0.55-0.90). Subarachnoid hemorrhage/arterial perforation and symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage after endovascular thrombectomy worsen both functional independence and mortality at three-month follow-up (p < 0.01). Distal embolization is associated with neurological deterioration (p < 0.01), while arterial dissection did not affect clinical outcome at follow-up., Conclusions: Complications globally considered are not uncommon and may result in poor clinical outcome. Early recognition of risk factors might help to prevent complications and manage them appropriately in order to maximize endovascular thrombectomy benefits.

Background and Purpose: To evaluate outcome and safety of endovascular treatment beyond 6 hours of onset of ischemic stroke due to large vessel occlusion in the anterior circulation, in routine clinical practice., Methods: From the Italian Registry of Endovascular Thrombectomy, we extracted clinical and outcome data of patients treated for stroke of known onset beyond 6 hours. Additional inclusion criteria were prestroke modified Rankin Scale score ≤2 and ASPECTS score ≥6. Patients were selected on individual basis by a combination of CT perfusion mismatch (difference between total hypoperfusion and infarct core sizes) and CT collateral score. The primary outcome measure was the score on modified Rankin Scale at 90 days. Safety outcomes were 90-day mortality and the occurrence of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage. Data were compared with those from patients treated within 6 hours., Results: Out of 3057 patients, 327 were treated beyond 6 hours. Their mean age was 66.8±14.9 years, the median baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale 16, and the median onset to groin puncture time 430 minutes. The most frequent site of occlusion was middle cerebral artery (45.1%). Functional independence (90-day modified Rankin Scale score, 0-2) was achieved by 41.3% of cases. Symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage occurred in 6.7% of patients, and 3-month case fatality rate was 17.1%. The probability of surviving with modified Rankin Scale score, 0-2 (odds ratio, 0.58 [95% CI, 0.43-0.77]) was significantly lower in patients treated beyond 6 hours as compared with patients treated earlier No differences were found regarding recanalization rates and safety outcomes between patients treated within and beyond 6 hours. There were no differences in outcome between people treated 6-12 hours from onset (278 patients) and those treated 12 to 24 hours from onset (49 patients)., Conclusions: This real-world study suggests that in patients with large vessel occlusion selected on the basis of CT perfusion and collateral circulation assessment, endovascular treatment beyond 6 hours is feasible and safe with no increase in symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage.

Background: The applicability of the current models for predicting functional outcome after thrombectomy in strokes with large vessel occlusion (LVO) is affected by a moderate predictive performance., Aims: We aimed to develop and validate a nomogram with pre- and post-treatment factors for prediction of the probability of unfavorable outcome in patients with anterior and posterior LVO who received bridging therapy or direct thrombectomy <6 h of stroke onset., Methods: We conducted a cohort study on patients data collected prospectively in the Italian Endovascular Registry (IER). Unfavorable outcome was defined as three-month modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score 3-6. Six predictors, including NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, age, pre-stroke mRS score, bridging therapy or direct thrombectomy, grade of recanalization according to the thrombolysis in cerebral ischemia (TICI) grading system, and onset-to-end procedure time were identified a priori by three stroke experts. To generate the IER-START, the pre-established predictors were entered into a logistic regression model. The discriminative performance of the model was assessed by using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC)., Results: A total of 1802 patients with complete data for generating the IER-START was randomly dichotomized into training ( n  = 1219) and test ( n  = 583) sets. The AUC-ROC of IER-START was 0.838 (95% confidence interval [CI]): 0.816-0.869) in the training set, and 0.820 (95% CI: 0.786-0.854) in the test set., Conclusions: The IER-START nomogram is the first prognostic model developed and validated in the largest population of stroke patients currently candidates to thrombectomy which reliably calculates the probability of three-month unfavorable outcome.

Background and Purpose- As a reliable scoring system to detect the risk of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage after thrombectomy for ischemic stroke is not yet available, we developed a nomogram for predicting symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage in patients with large vessel occlusion in the anterior circulation who received bridging of thrombectomy with intravenous thrombolysis (training set), and to validate the model by using a cohort of patients treated with direct thrombectomy (test set). Methods- We conducted a cohort study on prospectively collected data from 3714 patients enrolled in the IER (Italian Registry of Endovascular Stroke Treatment in Acute Stroke). Symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage was defined as any type of intracerebral hemorrhage with increase of ≥4 National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score points from baseline ≤24 hours or death. Based on multivariate logistic models, the nomogram was generated. We assessed the discriminative performance by using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Results- National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, onset-to-end procedure time, age, unsuccessful recanalization, and Careggi collateral score composed the IER-SICH nomogram. After removing Careggi collateral score from the first model, a second model including Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score was developed. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the IER-SICH nomogram was 0.778 in the training set (n=492) and 0.709 in the test set (n=399). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the second model was 0.733 in the training set (n=988) and 0.685 in the test set (n=779). Conclusions- The IER-SICH nomogram is the first model developed and validated for predicting symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage after thrombectomy. It may provide indications on early identification of patients for more or less postprocedural intensive management.

Purpose: To prospectively assess if middle cerebellar peduncle (MCP) atrophy, evaluated at magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, can help differentiate multiple system atrophy (MSA) from Parkinson disease (PD)., Materials and Methods: All participants provided informed consent for participation in the study, which was approved by the institutional review board. Sixteen consecutive patients with MSA, 26 consecutive patients with PD, and 14 healthy control subjects were examined with MR imaging. Images were interpreted independently by two experienced neuroradiologists blinded to clinical information, who visually inspected the images for the presence or absence of putaminal atrophy, putaminal hypointensity, slitlike hyperintensity in the posterolateral margin of the putamen, brainstem atrophy, hyperintensity of the MCP, and cruciform hyperintensity of the pons. Measurements of MCP width on T1-weighted volumetric spoiled gradient-echo images were performed in all subjects. Differences in MCP width among the groups were evaluated by using the Kruskall-Wallis test, followed by the Mann-Whitney U test for multiple comparisons and Bonferroni correction., Results: All patients (mean age, 63.88 years; range, 55-72 years) with MSA had at least one of the features commonly observed in this disease on MR images, whereas control subjects (mean age, 66.93 years; range, 61-77 years) and all but one patient with PD (mean age, 65.31 years; range, 51-79 years) had normal MR images. The average MCP width was significantly smaller in patients with MSA (6.10 mm+/-1.18 [standard deviation]) than in those with PD (9.32 mm+/-0.77, P<.001) or control subjects (9.80 mm+/-0.66, P<.001)., Conclusion: Measurement of MCP width on MR images may be useful for distinguishing patients with MSA from those with PD., (Copyright (c) RSNA, 2006.)

Cerebral venous outflow abnormalities, as transverse sinuses (TSs) stenosis,may underlie a picture of idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH). To identify the best non-invasive MR venography (MRV) technique for exploring the disturbance of flow of TSs in IIH patients, we compared three dimensional phase contrast (3-DPC) MRV images, acquired with different velocity encodings (15 and 40 cm/s) with two-dimensional time-of-flight (2D-TOF) MR images in 6 subjects with IIH and 12 age-matched normal controls. In both groups, we also measured flow velocity in TSs by using single slice 2D-CINE PC acquisitions. In all subjects with IIH, 3D-PC showed marked flow disturbance in the mid-lateral portion of both TSs when velocity encoding (VENC) was set to 15 cm/s while only a slightly irregular flow in TSs was detected when VENC was set to 40 cm/s or when 2D-TOF was used. By contrast, 3D-PC (VENC 15 and 40) and 2D-TOF techniques were comparable in detecting TS signal flow in normal controls. Measures of flow velocity, by using 2D-CINE PC, revealed a three-fold increase of velocity at the level of the flow disturbance in IIH patients compared to normal controls (p<0.0001), suggesting a marked stenosis of mid-lateral portion of TSs in these patients. Setting the VENC to 15 cm/s on 3D-PC MRV may represent the best technical approach for visualizing disturbances of flow in TSs in subjects with symptoms suggestive of IIH.