Patients’ baseline characteristics
| Characteristic | Local anesthesia center (n=219) | General anesthesia center (n=142) | P value |
| Age (years) (median (IQR)) | 73 (62–83) | 74 (64–83) | 0.797 |
| Male sex (n (%)) | 108 (49.3%) | 61 (42.9%) | 0.221 |
| Risk factors (n (%)) | |||
| Hypertension | 139 (63.4%) | 103 (72.5%) | 0.093 |
| Dyslipidemia | 71 (32.4%) | 52 (36.6%) | 0.446 |
| Diabetes | 36 (16.4%) | 34 (23.9%) | 0.085 |
| Smoking | 41 (18.7%) | 16 (11.2%) | 0.053 |
| Baseline mRS score >2 | 17 (7.7%) | 7 (4.9%) | 0.276 |
| Initial blood pressure (mmHg) (median (IQR)) | |||
| Systolic | 147 (131–165) | 146 (130–165) | 0.92 |
| Diastolic | 83 (74–94) | 80 (70–90) | 0.096 |
| Left hemisphere stroke (n/N (%)) | 110/213 (51.6%) | 76/142 (53.5%) | 0.877 |
| Type of admission (n (%)) | |||
| Direct admission to comprehensive stroke center | 87 (39.7%) | 138 (97.1%) | |
| Secondary transfer from primary stroke center | 89 (40.6%) | 4 (2.8%) | <0.001 |
| Other (including telemedicine) | 43 (19.6%) | 0 (0%) | 0.006 |
| Baseline NIHSS (median (IQR)) | 16 (12–20) | 14 (8–20) | <0.001 |
| Symptom onset to entry in angiography suite (min) (median (IQR)) | 270 (198–379) | 198 (150–294) | <0.001 |
| Symptom onset to femoral puncture (min) (median (IQR)) | 295 (226–411) | 248.5 (191–340) | <0.001 |
| IV thrombolysis (n (%)) | 142 (64.8%) | 51 (35.9%) | 0.312 |
| Symptom onset to IV thrombolysis (min) (median (IQR)) | 170 (135–240) | 154 (140–206) | |
| Initial APECTS score | |||
| ASPECTS <5 (n/N (%)) | 18/214 (8.4%) | 18/140 (12.8%) | 0.183 |
| ASPECTS score (median (IQR)) | 8 (6–8) | 8 (6–9) | 0.046 |
| Occlusion site at angiography (n (%)) | |||
| MCA M1 segment | 115 (52.5%) | 57 (40.1%) | |
| MCA M2 segment | 26 (11.8%) | 36 (25.3%) | |
| Terminal ICA | 33 (15.0%) | 25 (17.6%) | |
| Tandem occlusion | 27 (12.3%) | 20 (14.0%) | |
| Extracranial ICA | 2 (0.9%) | 0 (0%) | 0.001 |
| Bilateral | 1 (0.04%) | 1 (0.07%) | |
| Recanalized | 15 (6.8%) | 3 (2.1%) |
ASPECTS, Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score; ICA, internal carotid artery; IQR, interquartile range; IV, intravenous; MCA, middle cerebral artery; mRS, modifed Rankin Scale; NIHSS, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale.