RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Impact of anesthetic strategy on outcomes for patients with acute basilar artery occlusion undergoing mechanical thrombectomy JF Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery JO J NeuroIntervent Surg FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. SP neurintsurg-2021-018000 DO 10.1136/neurintsurg-2021-018000 A1 Fengli Li A1 Junfang Wan A1 Jiaxing Song A1 Junjie Yuan A1 Weilin Kong A1 Jiacheng Huang A1 Weidong Luo A1 Deping Wu A1 Linyu Li A1 Luming Chen A1 Chenghao Zhao A1 Jin Chen A1 Hui Tao A1 Hongfei Sang A1 Zhongming Qiu A1 Wenjie Zi A1 Qingwu Yang A1 Xingyu Chen A1 Hong Li A1 Feng Peng YR 2021 UL http://jnis.bmj.com/content/early/2021/11/03/neurintsurg-2021-018000.abstract AB Background The best anesthetic management strategy for patients with acute large vessel occlusion treated with mechanical thrombectomy (MT) remains uncertain. Most studies have focused on anterior–circulation stroke caused by large artery occlusion. Nevertheless, limited data are available on the appropriate choice of anesthetic for acute basilar artery occlusion (BAO). We aimed to investigate the effect of anesthetic method on clinical outcomes in patients with BAO undergoing MT.Methods Patients undergoing MT for acute BAO in the BASILAR registry (Acute Basilar Artery Occlusion Study) were included. We divided patients into three groups according to the anesthetic technique used during MT: general anesthesia (GA), local anesthesia (LA), and conscious sedation (CS). Propensity score matching was performed to achieve baseline balance.Results 639 patients were included. GA was used in 257 patients (40.2%), LA was used in 250 patients (39.1%), and CS was used in 132 patients (20.7%). After 1:1 matching, favorable outcome, mortality, and hemorrhagic transformation rates, as well as modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score at 90 days, did not differ between the GA, LA, and CS groups.Conclusions The choice of anesthetic strategy, GA, LA, or CS, did not affect the clinical outcomes of patients with acute BAO treated with MT in the BASILAR registry.The data are available upon reasonable request.