Bridging Intravenous Thrombolysis Before Thrombectomy: Helpful for M2 Occlusion Stroke?

For proximal large-vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke, recent evidence suggests that bridging therapy with intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) before endovascular treatment (EVT) may not provide additional benefits over EVT alone. But for more distal occlusions of the M2 segment of the middle cerebral artery, the clot burden tends to be lower, and bridging IVT could be more helpful, particularly for transport patients. Now, investigators from the nationwide MR CLEAN Registry report the results of an exploratory secondary analysis of IVT + EVT versus EVT alone for M2 occlusion stroke. The primary outcome was disability at 90 days.