Article Text
Abstract
Background and purpose Basilar artery occlusion remains one of the most devastating subtypes of stroke. Intravenous and intra-arterial therapy have altered the natural history of this disease; however, clinical results remain poor. Therefore, exploring more aggressive and innovative management is warranted.
Methods Six consecutive patients presenting with a basilar artery occlusion were treated with the same general algorithm of intra-arterial tissue plasminogen activator and mechanical thrombectomy with the Merci retrieval system. If complete recanalization was not achieved after two passes, manual syringe aspiration through a 4.3F catheter was employed.
Results All interventions utilizing aspiration thrombectomy resulted in recanalization, with five out of six cases displaying TIMI3/TICI3 flow and one patient resulting in complete recanalization of the basilar artery with persistent thrombus in one P2 segment (TIMI2/TICI2B). All patients survived, with five out of six independent in activities of daily living at 3 months (mRS 0–2).
Conclusions Our small case series indicates that aspiration thrombectomy performed manually through a 4.3F catheter can facilitate recanalization of basilar artery occlusion with acceptable clinical outcomes.
- Intra-arterial
- basilar occlusion
- aspiration
- thrombectomy
- atherosclerosis
- stroke
- angiography
- thrombectomy
- thrombolysis
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Footnotes
Competing interests Jovin has received consulting and speaker fees from Co-Axia, ev3, and Concentric Medical.
Ethics approval This study was conducted with the approval of the IRB.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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