Footnotes

• Contributors JLS wrote the first draft. EM provided critical draft revision comments.

• Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

• Competing interests JLS: Medtronic, Cerenovus, Boehringer Ingelheim (prevention only): contracted hourly payments for clinical trial steering committee service advising on rigorous study design and conduct; Rapid Medical: contracted stock option for clinical trial steering committee service advising on rigorous study design and conduct; MIVI, Occlutech: contracted hourly payments for data and safety monitoring board service. EM: NIH-NINDS: grant; American Heart Association/American Stroke Association: payment for editorial activities; Clinical Neurological Society of America: Scientific Planning Committee.

• Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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