Journal of Stroke (May 2023)

Recanalization Therapies for Large Vessel Occlusion Due to Cervical Artery Dissection: A Cohort Study of the EVA-TRISP Collaboration

  • Christopher Traenka,
  • Johannes Lorscheider,
  • Christian Hametner,
  • Philipp Baumgartner,
  • Jan Gralla,
  • Mauro Magoni,
  • Nicolas Martinez-Majander,
  • Barbara Casolla,
  • Katharina Feil,
  • Rosario Pascarella,
  • Panagiotis Papanagiotou,
  • Annika Nordanstig,
  • Visnja Padjen,
  • Carlo W. Cereda,
  • Marios Psychogios,
  • Christian H. Nolte,
  • Andrea Zini,
  • Patrik Michel,
  • Yannick Béjot,
  • Andreas Kastrup,
  • Marialuisa Zedde,
  • Georg Kägi,
  • Lars Kellert,
  • Hilde Henon,
  • Sami Curtze,
  • Alessandro Pezzini,
  • Marcel Arnold,
  • Susanne Wegener,
  • Peter Ringleb,
  • Turgut Tatlisumak,
  • Paul J. Nederkoorn,
  • Stefan T. Engelter,
  • Henrik Gensicke,

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5853/jos.2022.03370
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 25, no. 2
pp. 272 – 281

Abstract

Read online

Background and Purpose This study aimed to investigate the effect of endovascular treatment (EVT, with or without intravenous thrombolysis [IVT]) versus IVT alone on outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and intracranial large vessel occlusion (LVO) attributable to cervical artery dissection (CeAD). Methods This multinational cohort study was conducted based on prospectively collected data from the EVA-TRISP (EndoVAscular treatment and ThRombolysis for Ischemic Stroke Patients) collaboration. Consecutive patients (2015–2019) with AIS-LVO attributable to CeAD treated with EVT and/or IVT were included. Primary outcome measures were (1) favorable 3-month outcome (modified Rankin Scale score 0–2) and (2) complete recanalization (thrombolysis in cerebral infarction scale 2b/3). Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals (OR [95% CI]) from logistic regression models were calculated (unadjusted, adjusted). Secondary analyses were performed in the patients with LVO in the anterior circulation (LVOant) including propensity score matching. Results Among 290 patients, 222 (76.6%) had EVT and 68 (23.4%) IVT alone. EVT-treated patients had more severe strokes (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, median [interquartile range]: 14 [10–19] vs. 4 [2–7], P<0.001). The frequency of favorable 3-month outcome did not differ significantly between both groups (EVT: 64.0% vs. IVT: 86.8%; ORadjusted 0.56 [0.24–1.32]). EVT was associated with higher rates of recanalization (80.5% vs. 40.7%; ORadjusted 8.85 [4.28–18.29]) compared to IVT. All secondary analyses showed higher recanalization rates in the EVT-group, which however never translated into better functional outcome rates compared to the IVT-group. Conclusion We observed no signal of superiority of EVT over IVT regarding functional outcome in CeAD-patients with AIS and LVO despite higher rates of complete recanalization with EVT. Whether pathophysiological CeAD-characteristics or their younger age might explain this observation deserves further research.

Keywords