(In anticipation of the International Stroke Conference 2019 – ISC19) Not so long ago, the benefit of endovascular thrombectomy beyond six hours of ischemic stroke onset was uncertain, particularly among patients with ischemic brain tissue that has not yet undergone infarction. The volume of irreversibly injured ischemic tissue and the volume of brain tissue that … Read more
To fanfare at International Stroke Conference 2018, the results of the DEFUSE 31 extended window thrombectomy study were announced. The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association acute ischemic stroke guidelines were immediately updated to reflect the practice-changing findings. A few months later, Lee Schwamm and colleagues published their findings from MR WITNESS.2 In this study, patients … Read more
I have run into zealous naysayers from both camps. From a clinical researcher: “Human trials are the ultimate, difficult to run, very different from animal studies which may have no clinical relevance.” From a bench scientist: “Epidemiologic studies are trash in, trash out. Well designed animal studies are real science that will advance health.” … Read more
Writing from the 2018 International Stroke Conference, it is difficult to report on anything other than the game-changing results of DEFUSE 3. After years of clinical suspicion that endovascular therapy works, definitive evidence establishing the role of endovascular therapy in acute stroke care was first presented at the International Stroke Conference in 2015. Since then, … Read more