Single-center experience of endovascular treatment for patients with progressive posterior circulation cerebral infarction exceeding 24 h

BACKGROUND: Evidence of endovascular treatment (ET) for patients with progressive infarction of the posterior circulation exceeding 24 h is lacking. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of ET for progressive posterior circulation cerebral infarction. METHODS: This retrospective study evaluated the ET for 18 patients with posterior circulation infarction caused by vertebrobasilar artery occlusion from July 2017 to November 2018. The conditions of patients worsened despite receiving intravenous thrombolysis or combination therapy with clopidogrel and aspirin. The time from the onset of cerebral infarction to puncture was >24 h. The preoperative National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), modified Rankin Scale (mRS), and related risk factors of patients at 3 months were analyzed postoperatively. RESULTS: The preoperative NIHSS score was 10.6 (IQR: 6.5), and the time from onset to puncture was 163.5 ± 144.7 h. Postoperative blood flow was modified thrombolysis in cerebral infarction (mTICI) grade 2b or above. During the follow-up period, 1 patient died of basilar artery re-occlusion and pulmonary infection, and 1 died of postoperative hyperperfusion hemorrhage, with a mortality rate of 11.1% (2/18). No recurrent ischemic events were observed in any of the 16 patients during the 3-month follow-up period. The mean mRS score was 1.3 (IQR: 2.3), and 75% patients (12/16) had an mRS score of 0–2. There were no significant differences in age, gender, clinical characteristics, and stroke subtype between patients with mRS scores ≤2 and >2. CONCLUSION: In patients with progressive posterior circulation cerebral infarction caused by vertebral basilar artery occlusion, ET is effective and safe even if the time from onset to puncture exceeds 24 h.