Endovascular therapy for acute ischemic stroke: The standard of care

Acute ischemic stroke continues to be a major cause of permanent disability and death worldwide. Outcomes are particularly poor in patients presenting with large vessel occlusive disease with resultant ischemia and tissue injury in large and eloquent territories. Intravenous thrombolysis has been the mainstay of medical therapy, however treatment is limited to a subset of patients and many patients continue to have poor outcomes. Three trials in 2013 investigating the benefit of intra-arterial therapy failed to demonstrate benefit over medical therapy alone. More recently, five trials in 2015 were completed demonstrating superior outcomes with intra-arterial therapy with improved results attributed to higher and faster rates of recanalization in a select patient population. These trials have introduced a new standard of care in the management of acute ischemic stroke patients.