RESUMO
RATIONALE: Whether endovascular therapy (EVT) in addition to best medical treatment (BMT) in people with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) due to a medium distal vessel occlusion (MDVO) is beneficial remains unclear. AIM: To determine if people experiencing an AIS due to an isolated MDVO (defined as the co- or non-dominant M2 segment, the M3 or M4 segment of the middle cerebral artery, the A1, A2, or A3 segment of the anterior cerebral artery or the P1, P2 or P3 segment of the posterior cerebral artery) will have superior outcome if treated with EVT in addition to BMT compared to BMT alone. SAMPLE SIZE: To randomize 526 participants 1:1 to EVT plus BMT or BMT alone. METHODS AND DESIGN: A multicentre, international, prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded-endpoint (PROBE) superiority trial. OUTCOMES: The primary efficacy endpoint is the distribution of disability levels on the modified Rankin Scale at 90 days. Secondary clinical efficacy outcomes include normalized change in National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score from baseline to day 1, cognitive outcome at 90 days, and health-related quality of life at 90 days. Safety outcomes include all serious adverse events, symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage within 24 h, and all-cause mortality up to 90 days. Secondary imaging outcomes include successful reperfusion at end of EVT procedure and recanalization of target artery at 24 h. DISCUSSION: DISTAL will inform physicians whether EVT in addition to BMT in people with AIS due to a MDVO is more efficacious than BMT alone.
RESUMO
Background@#and Purpose Recent studies suggested an increased incidence of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We evaluated the volume of CVT hospitalization and in-hospital mortality during the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the preceding year. @*Methods@#We conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study of 171 stroke centers from 49 countries. We recorded COVID-19 admission volumes, CVT hospitalization, and CVT in-hospital mortality from January 1, 2019, to May 31, 2021. CVT diagnoses were identified by International Classification of Disease-10 (ICD-10) codes or stroke databases. We additionally sought to compare the same metrics in the first 5 months of 2021 compared to the corresponding months in 2019 and 2020 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04934020). @*Results@#There were 2,313 CVT admissions across the 1-year pre-pandemic (2019) and pandemic year (2020); no differences in CVT volume or CVT mortality were observed. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT volumes compared to 2019 (27.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 24.2 to 32.0; P<0.0001) and 2020 (41.4%; 95% CI, 37.0 to 46.0; P<0.0001). A COVID-19 diagnosis was present in 7.6% (132/1,738) of CVT hospitalizations. CVT was present in 0.04% (103/292,080) of COVID-19 hospitalizations. During the first pandemic year, CVT mortality was higher in patients who were COVID positive compared to COVID negative patients (8/53 [15.0%] vs. 41/910 [4.5%], P=0.004). There was an increase in CVT mortality during the first 5 months of pandemic years 2020 and 2021 compared to the first 5 months of the pre-pandemic year 2019 (2019 vs. 2020: 2.26% vs. 4.74%, P=0.05; 2019 vs. 2021: 2.26% vs. 4.99%, P=0.03). In the first 5 months of 2021, there were 26 cases of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), resulting in six deaths. @*Conclusions@#During the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic, CVT hospitalization volume and CVT in-hospital mortality did not change compared to the prior year. COVID-19 diagnosis was associated with higher CVT in-hospital mortality. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT hospitalization volume and increase in CVT-related mortality, partially attributable to VITT.