Our retrospective study confirms that morbidity and mortality rates in treatment with FDD of unruptured wide-neck or untreatable cerebral aneurysms do not differ from those reported in the largest series.

The aim of the ICARO-3 study was to evaluate whether intra-arterial treatment, compared to intravenous thrombolysis, increases the rate of favourable functional outcome at 3 months in acute ischemic stroke and extracranial ICA occlusion. ICARO-3 was a non-randomized therapeutic trial that performed a non-blind assessment of outcomes using retrospective data collected prospectively from 37 centres in 7 countries. Patients treated with endovascular treatment within 6 h from stroke onset (cases) were matched with patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis within 4.5 h from symptom onset (controls). Patients receiving either intravenous or endovascular therapy were included among the cases. The efficacy outcome was disability at 90 days assessed by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS), dichotomized as favourable (score of 0-2) or unfavourable (score of 3-6). Safety outcomes were death and any intracranial bleeding. Included in the analysis were 324 cases and 324 controls: 105 cases (32.4 %) had a favourable outcome as compared with 89 controls (27.4 %) [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.25, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.88-1.79, p = 0.1]. In the adjusted analysis, treatment with intra-arterial procedures was significantly associated with a reduction of mortality (OR 0.61, 95 % CI 0.40-0.93, p = 0.022). The rates of patients with severe disability or death (mRS 5-6) were similar in cases and controls (30.5 versus 32.4 %, p = 0.67). For the ordinal analysis, adjusted for age, sex, NIHSS, presence of diabetes mellitus and atrial fibrillation, the common odds ratio was 1.15 (95 % IC 0.86-1.54), p = 0.33. There were more cases of intracranial bleeding (37.0 versus 17.3 %, p = 0.0001) in the intra-arterial procedure group than in the intravenous group. After the exclusion of the 135 cases treated with the combination of I.V. thrombolysis and I.A. procedures, 67/189 of those treated with I.A. procedures (35.3 %) had a favourable outcome, compared to 89/324 of those treated with I.V. thrombolysis (27.4 %) (adjusted OR 1.75, 95 % CI 1.00-3.03, p = 0.05). Endovascular treatment of patients with acute ICA occlusion did not result in a better functional outcome than treatment with intravenous thrombolysis, but was associated with a higher rate of intracranial bleeding. Overall mortality was significantly reduced in patients treated with endovascular treatment but the rates of patients with severe disability or death were similar. When excluding all patients treated with the combination of I.V. thrombolysis and I.A. procedures, a potential benefit of I.A. treatment alone compared to I.V. thrombolysis was observed.

IntroductionThe capability of CT perfusion (CTP) Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) to predict outcome and identify ischemia severity in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients is still questioned.Methods62 patients with AIS were imaged within 8 hours of symptom onset by non-contrast CT, CT angiography and CTP scans at admission and 24 hours. CTP ASPECTS was calculated on the affected hemisphere using cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV) and mean transit time (MTT) maps by subtracting 1 point for any abnormalities visually detected or measured within multiple cortical circular regions of interest according to previously established thresholds. MTT-CBV ASPECTS was considered as CTP ASPECTS mismatch. Hemorrhagic transformation (HT), recanalization status and reperfusion grade at 24 hours, final infarct volume at 7 days and modified Rankin scale (mRS) at 3 months after onset were recorded.ResultsSemi-quantitative and quantitative CTP ASPECTS were highly correlated (p<0.00001). CBF, CBV and MTT ASPECTS were higher in patients with no HT and mRS≤2 and inversely associated with final infarct volume and mRS (p values: from p<0.05 to p<0.00001). CTP ASPECTS mismatch was slightly associated with radiological and clinical outcomes (p values: from p<0.05 to p<0.02) only if evaluated quantitatively. A CBV ASPECTS of 9 was the optimal semi-quantitative value for predicting outcome.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that visual inspection of CTP ASPECTS recognizes infarct and ischemic absolute values. Semi-quantitative CBV ASPECTS, but not CTP ASPECTS mismatch, represents a strong prognostic indicator, implying that core extent is the main determinant of outcome, irrespective of penumbra size.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Successful vessel recanalization in posterior circulation large-vessel occlusion is considered crucial, though the evidence of clinical usefulness, compared with the anterior circulation, is not still determined. The aim of this study was to evaluate predictors of favorable clinical outcome and to analyze the effect of first-pass thrombectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS:A retrospective, multicenter, observational study was conducted in 10 high-volume stroke centers in Europe, including the period from January 2016 to July 2019. Only patients with an acute basilar artery occlusion or a single, dominant vertebral artery occlusion ("functional" basilar artery occlusion) who had a 3-month mRS were included. Clinical, procedural, and radiologic data were evaluated, and the association between these parameters and both the functional outcome and the firstpass effect was assessed.RESULTS: A total of 191 patients were included. A lower baseline NIHSS score (adjusted OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.61-0.96; P ¼ .025) and higher baseline MR imaging posterior circulation ASPECTS (adjusted OR, 3.01; 95% CI, 1.03-8.76; P ¼ .043) were predictors of better outcomes. The use of large-bore catheters (adjusted OR, 2.25; 95% CI, 1.08-4.67; P ¼ .030) was a positive predictor of successful reperfusion at firstpass, while the use of a combined technique was a negative predictor (adjusted OR, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.09-0.76; P ¼ .014). CONCLUSIONS:The analysis of our retrospective series demonstrates that a lower baseline NIHSS score and a higher MR imaging posterior circulation ASPECTS were predictors of good clinical outcome. The use of large-bore catheters was a positive predictor of first-pass modified TICI 2b/3; the use of a combined technique was a negative predictor.ABBREVIATIONS: BAO ¼ basilar artery occlusion; F-P mTICI ¼ first-pass effect mTICI; IQR ¼ interquartile range; mTICI ¼ modified TICI; pc-ASPECTS ¼ posterior circulation ASPECTS; pc-LVO ¼ large-vessel occlusion of the posterior circulation P osterior circulation stroke accounts for about 20% of all ischemic stroke cases. 1,2 The etiology is variable (thromboembolic, atherosclerosis, arterial dissection, perforating vessels disease, and so forth), affecting different vascular territories; rarely, this type of stroke is due to a large-vessel occlusion of the posterior circulation (pc-LVO), representing about 1% of all acute ischemic strokes, 3,4 Acute pc-LVO carries a high risk of disabling stroke or death. In this context, designing a randomized controlled trial is challenging, and even appropriate patient selection is problematic. Successful vessel recanalization is considered crucial for survival or for improving functional outcome, 5,6 though the evidence of the clinical usefulness of endovascular

Multi-parametric CTP mapping of acute SICH indicates that perfusion values show a progressive improvement from the core to the periphery. In the first 24 h, perihemorrhagic region was hypoperfused with CTP values which were not suggestive of ischemic penumbra destined to survive but more likely indicative of edema formation. These findings also argue for a potential influence of early amounts of bleeding on perihematomal hemodynamic abnormalities.