Early Neurological Clinical Recovery, 3 Months After Endovascular Treatment of an Acute Ischemic Stroke

Stroke affects 1 patient every 4 minutes in France, with around 130,000 new patients each year. Early recanalisation is a major prognostic factor and the main therapeutic target in the acute phase of this disease. The recanalisation techniques currently developed are intravenous thrombolysis, intra-arterial thrombolysis and thrombectomy (or embolectomy). These therapies can be combined. Thrombectomy involves endovascular capture of the clot obstructing the intracranial artery.

Recent improvements in thrombectomy techniques have also contributed to the spread of this technique. Neurovascular units include endovascular treatment in their strategy for the early management of acute proximal occlusions of intracranial arteries in almost 1 in 3 cases. This approach is currently the subject of professional agreements. Mechanical thrombectomy has now been validated by studies showing a major reduction (-35%) in the disability associated with severe cerebral infarction and a reduction in mortality, with recanalisation rates ranging from 58 to 72%. This "recanalisation" criterion is of major importance because it largely determines the functional prognosis of patients following a cerebral infarction.

Patients are often followed up in the months following the operation by the neurology department that initially treated them, and in the first few weeks they may be admitted to follow-up care units. As a result, although the clinical outcome at 3 months is a major factor in patient prognosis, this information is rarely available. The aim of this study is to obtain standardised 3-month follow-up data for a large series of patients who have undergone endovascular treatment for stroke.