Rescue stent implantation for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke: initial experience in 13 patients / 介入放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the safety and efficacy of stent implantation used as a rescue measure for acute ischemic stroke.Methods The clinical data of 13 patients with acute ischemic stroke caused by large artery occlusion of anterior c erebral circulation that occurred within 8 hours before clinical visit,who had received rescue stent implantation at authors' hospital,were retrospectively analyzed.Before stent implantation,all patients failed to respond to other recanalization treatments,including intravenous thrombolysis,intra-arterial thrombolysis,mechanical thrombec tomy with Penumbra device,and Solitaire stent thrombectomy.Angiography was performed immediately after stent implantation.Vascular recanalization condition was evaluated with blood flow grading that was based on thrombolysis in cerebral infarction (TICI) criterion.Perioperative bleeding and complications were recorded.National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score was used to assess the improvement of neurological function at one week after operation.Modified Rankin scale (mRS) score was used to evaluate the prognosis at 3 months after operation.Results A total of 16 stents were implanted in 13 patients.Before stent implantation,thrombectomy by using Solitaire retrievable stent was employed in 10 patients,mechanical thrombectomy with Penumbra device was adopted in 3 patients,intravenous thrombolysis with urokinase was used in one patient,and intra-arterial thrombolysis with urokinase was conducted in one patient.After stent implantation,partial or complete recanalization was achieved in 12 patients (TICI≥2b/3).NIHSS score was improved from preoperative (16.15±5.81) points to postoperative (8.08±5.61) points,the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05).Three months after stenting treatment,good prognosis (mRS ≤2) was obtained in 7 patients (53.8％) and 2 patients died.Intracranial hemorrhage occurred in 2 patients and procedure-related embolism was observed in 3 patients.Conclusion For the treatment of acute ischemic stroke,intracranial stenting angioplasty,used as a rescue measure for thrombolytic therapy with different combinations of drugs,is safe and effective.