Time of day and endovascular treatment decision in acute stroke with relative endovascular treatment indication: insights from UNMASK EVT international survey.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The decision to proceed with endovascular thrombectomy should ideally be made independent of inconvenience factors, such as daytime. We assessed the influence of patient presentation time on endovascular therapy decision making under current local resources and assumed ideal conditions in acute ischemic stroke with level 2B evidence for endovascular treatment. METHODS AND MATERIALS: In an international cross sectional survey, 607 stroke physicians from 38 countries were asked to give their treatment decisions to 10 out of 22 randomly assigned case scenarios. Eleven scenarios had level 2B evidence for endovascular treatment: 7 daytime scenarios (7:00 am-5:00 pm) and four night time cases (5:01 pm- 6:59 am). Participants provided their treatment approach assuming (A) there were no practice constraints and (B) under their current local resources. Endovascular treatment decisions in the 11 scenarios were analyzed according to presentation time with adjustment for patient and physician characteristics. RESULTS: Participants selected endovascular therapy in 74.2% under assumed ideal conditions, and 70.7% under their current local resources of night time scenarios, and in 67.2% and 63.8% of daytime scenarios. Night time presentation did not increase the probability of a treatment decision against endovascular therapy under current local resources or assumed ideal conditions. CONCLUSION: Presentation time did not influence endovascular treatment decision making in stroke patients in this international survey.

Endovascular treatment decision in acute stroke: does physician gender matter? Insights from UNMASK EVT, an international, multidisciplinary survey.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Differences in the treatment practice of female and male physicians have been shown in several medical subspecialties. It is currently not known whether this also applies to endovascular stroke treatment. The purpose of this study was to explore whether there are differences in endovascular treatment decisions made by female and male stroke physicians and neurointerventionalists. METHODS: In an international survey, stroke physicians and neurointerventionalists were randomly assigned 10 case scenarios and asked how they would treat the patient: (A) assuming there were no external constraints and (B) given their local working conditions. Descriptive statistics were used to describe baseline demographics, and the adjusted OR for physician gender as a predictor of endovascular treatment decision was calculated using logistic regression. RESULTS: 607 physicians (97 women, 508 men, 2 who did not wish to declare) participated in this survey. Physician gender was neither a significant predictor for endovascular treatment decision under assumed ideal conditions (endovascular therapy was favored by 77.0% of female and 79.3% of male physicians, adjusted OR 1.03, P=0.806) nor under current local resources (endovascular therapy was favored by 69.1% of female and 76.9% of male physicians, adjusted OR 1.03, P=0.814). CONCLUSION: Endovascular therapy decision making between male and female physicians did not differ under assumed ideal conditions or under current local resources.

Influence of Guidelines in Endovascular Therapy Decision Making in Acute Ischemic Stroke: Insights From UNMASK EVT.

Background and Purpose- The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association guidelines for early management of patients with ischemic stroke offer guidance to physicians involved in acute stroke care and clarify endovascular treatment indications. The purpose of this study was to assess concordance of physicians' endovascular treatment decision-making with current American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association stroke treatment guidelines using a survey-approach and to explore how decision-making in the absence of guideline recommendations is approached. Methods- In an international cross-sectional survey (UNMASK-EVT), physicians were randomly assigned 10 of 22 case scenarios (8 constructed with level 1A and 11 with level 2B evidence for endovascular treatment and 3 scenarios without guideline coverage) and asked to declare their treatment approach (1) under their current local resources and (2) assuming there were no external constraints. The proportion of physicians offering endovascular therapy (EVT) was calculated. Subgroup analysis was performed for different specialties, geographic regions, with regard to physicians' age, endovascular, and general stroke treatment experience. Results- When facing level 1A evidence, participants decided in favor of EVT in 86.8% under current local resources and in 90.6% under assumed ideal conditions, that is, 9.4% decided against EVT even under assumed ideal conditions. In case scenarios with level 2B evidence, 66.3% decided to proceed with EVT under current local resources and 69.7% under assumed ideal conditions. Conclusions- There is potential for improving thinking around the decision to offer endovascular treatment, since physicians did not offer EVT even under assumed ideal conditions in 9.4% despite facing level 1A evidence. A majority of physicians would offer EVT even for level 2B evidence cases.

Factors Associated With the Decision-Making on Endovascular Thrombectomy for the Management of Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Background and Purpose- Little is known about the real-life factors that clinicians use in selection of patients that would receive endovascular treatment (EVT) in the real world. We sought to determine patient, practitioner, and health system factors associated with therapeutic decisions around endovascular treatment. Methods- We conducted a multinational cross-sectional web-based study comprising of 607 clinicians and interventionalists from 38 countries who are directly involved in acute stroke care. Participants were randomly allocated to 10 from a pool of 22 acute stroke case scenarios. Each case was classified as either Class I, Class II, or unknown evidence according to the current guidelines. We used logistic regression analysis applying weight of evidence approach. Main outcome measures were multilevel factors associated with EVT, adherence to current EVT guidelines, and practice gaps between current and ideal practice settings. Results- Of the 1330 invited participants, 607 (45.6%) participants completed the study (53.7% neurologists, 28.5% neurointerventional radiologists, 17.8% other clinicians). The weighed evidence approach revealed that National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (34.9%), level of evidence (30.2%), ASPECTS (Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score) or ischemic core volume (22.4%), patient's age (21.6%), and clinicians' experience in EVT use (19.3%) are the most important factors for EVT decision. Of 2208 responses that met Class I evidence for EVT, 1917 (86.8%) were in favor of EVT. In case scenarios with no available guidelines, 1070 of 1380 (77.5%) responses favored EVT. Comparison between current and ideal practice settings revealed a small practice gap (941 of 6070 responses, 15.5%). Conclusions- In this large multinational survey, stroke severity, guideline-based level of evidence, baseline brain imaging, patients' age and physicians' experience were the most relevant factors for EVT decision-making. The high agreement between responses and Class I guideline recommendations and high EVT use even when guidelines were not available reflect the real-world acceptance of EVT as standard of care in patients with disabling acute ischemic stroke.