Long term outcome after endovascular treatment for large ischemic core acute stroke is associated with hypoperfusion intensity ratio and onset-to-reperfusion time.

BACKGROUND: Endovascular treatment (EVT) is effective for large vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke with smaller volumes of CT perfusion (CTP)-defined core. However, the influence of perfusion imaging during thrombectomy on the functional outcomes of patients with large ischemic core (LIC) stroke at both early and late time windows is uncertain in real-world practice.

METHOD: A retrospective analysis was performed on 99 patients who underwent computed tomography angiography (CTA) and CT perfusion (CTP)-Rapid Processing of Perfusion and Diffusion (RAPID) before EVT and had a baseline ischemic core ≥ 50 mL and/or Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) score of 0-5. The primary outcome was the three-month modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score. Data were analyzed by binary logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.

RESULTS: A fair outcome (mRS, 0-3) was found in 34 of the 99 patients while 65 had a poor prognosis (mRS, 4-6). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that onset-to-reperfusion (OTR) time (odds ratio [OR], 1.004; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.001-1.007; p = 0.008), ischemic core (OR, 1.066; 95% CI, 1.024-1.111; p = 0.008), and the hypoperfusion intensity ratio (HIR) (OR, 70.898; 95% CI, 1.130-4450.152; p = 0.044) were independent predictors of outcome. The combined results of ischemic core, HIR, and OTR time showed good performance with an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.937, significantly higher than the individual variables (p < 0.05) using DeLong's test.

CONCLUSIONS: Higher HIR and longer OTR time in large core stroke patients were independently associated with unfavorable three-month outcomes after EVT.