Campbell, B. C. V. et al. (2018) Effect of general anaesthesia on functional outcome in patients with anterior circulation ischaemic stroke having endovascular thrombectomy versus standard care: a meta-analysis of individual patient data. Lancet Neurology, 17(1), pp. 47-53. (doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(17)30407-6) This is the author's final accepted version.There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it.http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/149670/ variables. An alternative approach using propensity-score stratification was also used. To account for between-trial variance we used mixed-effects modeling with a random effect for trial incorporated in all models. Bias was assessed using the Cochrane tool.Findings: Of 1764 patients in 7 trials, 871 were allocated to endovascular thrombectomy. After exclusion of 74 patients (72 who did not undergo the procedure and 2 with missing data on anaesthetic strategy), 236/797 (30%) of endovascular patients were treated under GA. At baseline, GA patients were younger and had shorter time to randomisation but similar pre-treatment clinical severity compared to non-GA. Endovascular thrombectomy improved functional outcome at 3 months versus standard care in both GA (adjusted common odds ratio (cOR) 1·52, 95%CI 1·09-2·11, p=0·014) and non-GA (adjusted cOR 2·33, 95%CI 1·75-3·10, p<0·001) patients. However, outcomes were significantly better for those treated under non-GA versus GA (covariate-adjusted cOR 1·53, 95%CI 1·14-2·04, p=0·004; propensitystratified cOR 1·44 95%CI 1·08-1·92, p=0·012). The risk of bias and variability among studies was assessed to be low.Interpretation: Worse outcomes after endovascular thrombectomy were associated with GA, after adjustment for baseline prognostic variables. These data support avoidance of GA whenever possible. The procedure did, however, remain effective versus standard care in patients treated under GA, indicating that treatment should not be withheld in those who require anaesthesia for medical reasons. Funding:The HERMES collaboration was funded by an unrestricted grant from Medtronic to the University of Calgary. Research in contextEvidence before this study between abolition of the thrombectomy treatment effect in MR CLEAN and no effect in THRACE. Three single-centre randomised trials of general anaesthesia versus conscious sedation found either no difference in functional outcome between groups or a slight benefit of general anaesthesia. Added value of this studyThese data from contemporary, high quality randomised trials form the largest study to date of the association between general anesthesia and the benefit of endovascular thrombectomy versus standard care. We used two different approaches to adjust for baseline imbalances (multivariable logistic regression and propensity-score stratification). We found that GA for endovascular thrombectomy, as practiced in contemporary clinical care across a wide range of expert centres during the rand...

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Background and Purpose— Many ischemic strokes or transient ischemic attacks are labeled cryptogenic but may have undetected atrial fibrillation (AF). We sought to identify those most likely to have subclinical AF. Methods— We prospectively studied patients with cryptogenic stroke or transient ischemic attack aged ≥55 years in sinus rhythm, without known AF, enrolled in the intervention arm of the 30 Day Event Monitoring Belt for Recording Atrial Fibrillation After a Cerebral Ischemic Event (EMBRACE) trial. Participants underwent baseline 24-hour Holter ECG poststroke; if AF was not detected, they were randomly assigned to 30-day ECG monitoring with an AF auto-detect external loop recorder. Multivariable logistic regression assessed the association between baseline variables (Holter-detected atrial premature beats [APBs], runs of atrial tachycardia, age, and left atrial enlargement) and subsequent AF detection. Results— Among 237 participants, the median baseline Holter APB count/24 h was 629 (interquartile range, 142–1973) among those who subsequently had AF detected versus 45 (interquartile range, 14–250) in those without AF ( P <0.001). APB count was the only significant predictor of AF detection by 30-day ECG ( P <0.0001), and at 90 days ( P =0.0017) and 2 years ( P =0.0027). Compared with the 16% overall 90-day AF detection rate, the probability of AF increased from <9% among patients with <100 APBs/24 h to 9% to 24% in those with 100 to 499 APBs/24 h, 25% to 37% with 500 to 999 APBs/24 h, 37% to 40% with 1000 to 1499 APBs/24 h, and 40% beyond 1500 APBs/24 h. Conclusions— Among older cryptogenic stroke or transient ischemic attack patients, the number of APBs on a routine 24-hour Holter ECG was a strong dose-dependent independent predictor of prevalent subclinical AF. Those with frequent APBs have a high probability of AF and represent ideal candidates for prolonged ECG monitoring for AF detection. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT00846924.

The relative rates of detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) or atrial flutter from evaluating patients with prolonged electrocardiographic monitoring with an external loop recorder or implantable loop recorder after an ischemic stroke are unknown.OBJECTIVE To determine, in patients with a recent ischemic stroke, whether 12 months of implantable loop recorder monitoring detects more occurrences of AF compared with conventional external loop recorder monitoring for 30 days. Investigator-initiated, open-label, randomized clinical trial conducted at 2 university hospitals and 1 community hospital in Alberta, Canada, including 300 patients within 6 months of ischemic stroke and without known AF from May 2015 through November 2017; final follow-up was in December 2018. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSINTERVENTIONS Participants were randomly assigned 1:1 to prolonged electrocardiographic monitoring with either an implantable loop recorder (n = 150) or an external loop recorder (n = 150) with follow-up visits at 30 days, 6 months, and 12 months. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe primary outcome was the development of definite AF or highly probable AF (adjudicated new AF lasting Ն2 minutes within 12 months of randomization). There were 8 prespecified secondary outcomes including time to event analysis of new AF, recurrent ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, death, and device-related serious adverse events within 12 months. RESULTS Among the 300 patients who were randomized (median age, 64.1 years [interquartile range, 56.1 to 73.7 years]; 121 were women [40.3%]; and 66.3% had a stroke of undetermined etiology with a median CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc [congestive heart failure, hypertension, age Ն75 years, diabetes, stroke or transient ischemic attack, vascular disease, age 65 to 74 years, sex category] score of 4 [interquartile range, 3 to 5]), 273 (91.0%) completed cardiac monitoring lasting 24 hours or longer and 259 (86.3%) completed both the assigned monitoring and 12-month follow-up visit. The primary outcome was observed in 15.3% (23/150) of patients in the implantable loop recorder group and 4.7% (7/150) of patients in the external loop recorder group (between-group difference, 10.7% [95% CI, 4.0% to 17.3%]; risk ratio, 3.29 [95% CI, 1.45 to 7.42]; P = .003). Of the 8 specified secondary outcomes, 6 were not significantly different. There were 5 patients (3.3%) in the implantable loop recorder group who had recurrent ischemic stroke vs 8 patients (5.3%) in the external loop recorder group (between-group difference, −2.0% [95% CI, −6.6% to 2.6%]), 1 (0.7%) vs 1 (0.7%), respectively, who had intracerebral hemorrhage (between-group difference, 0% [95% CI, −1.8% to 1.8%]), 3 (2.0%) vs 3 (2.0%) who died (between-group difference, 0% [95% CI, −3.2% to 3.2%]), and 1 (0.7%) vs 0 (0%) who had device-related serious adverse events.CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among patients with ischemic stroke and no prior evidence of AF, implantable electrocardiographic monitoring for 12 months, compared with prolonged external monitoring for 30 da...

Background and Purpose-Patients may experience clinical deterioration (CD) after treatment with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA). We evaluated the ability of flow findings on transcranial Doppler to predict CD and outcomes on modified Rankin Scale. Methods-Patients with acute stroke received intravenous rt-PA within 3 hours of symptom onset at four academic centers.CD was defined as an increase in the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score by 4 points or more within 24 hours. Poor long-term outcome was defined by modified Rankin Scale Ն2 at 3 months. Transcranial Doppler findings were interpreted using the Thrombolysis in Brain Ischemia flow grading system as persistent arterial occlusion, reocclusion, or complete recanalization. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify transcranial Doppler flow as a predictor for CD after controlling for age, sex, baseline NIHSS, hypertension, and glucose. Results-A total of 374 patients received intravenous rt-PA at 142Ϯ60 minutes (median pretreatment NIHSS score 16 points). At the end of intravenous rt-PA infusion, transcranial Doppler showed persistent arterial occlusion in 219 patients (59%), arterial reocclusion in 54 patients (14%), and complete recanalization in 101 patients (27%). CD occurred in 44 patients: 36 had persistent arterial occlusion or reocclusion (82%), 13 symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (29%), and both persistent occlusion/reocclusion and symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage in 10 patients (23%). After adjustment, patient risk for CD with persistent occlusion was OR 1.7 (95% CI: 0.7 to 4) and with arterial reocclusion 4.9 (95% CI: 1.7 to 13) (Pϭ0.002). Patient risk for poor long-term outcomes with persistent occlusion, partial recanalization, or reocclusion was OR 5.2 (95% CI: 2.7 to 9, Pϭ0.001). Conclusions-Inability to achieve or sustain vessel patency at the end of rt-PA infusion correlates with the likelihood of clinical deterioration and poor long-term outcome. Early arterial reocclusion on transcranial Doppler is highly predictive of CD and poor outcome.