Meta-Analysis Supports Benefit of Endovascular Stroke Therapy

The benefit of endovascular therapy for acute ischemic stroke was unproven until several recent randomized trials. To synthesize the findings of these trials, investigators performed a meta-analysis of published reports of all randomized clinical trials comparing intra-arterial use of a microcatheter for mechanical thrombectomy versus standard medical therapy, which included intravenous thrombolysis.

Of eight eligible studies, three were published in 2013 (IMS III, MR RESCUE, and SYNTHESIS) and five in 2015 (MR CLEAN, ESCAPE, EXTEND-IA, REVASCAT, and SWIFT-PRIME). Across studies, mean patient age ranged from 66 to 71 years and the median NIH Stroke Scale score ranged from 13 to 17. In a pooled analysis, the odds of functional independence (m…