Endovascular treatment for isolated cervical internal carotid artery occlusion

• Author(s): Marto, João Pedro ; Riegler, Christoph ; Gebert, Pimrapat ; Reiff, Tilman ; Sykora, Marek ; Wiącek, Marcin ; Pakizer, David ; Araújo, André ; ter Schiphorst, Adrien ; Sousa, João André ; Reich, Arno ; Pina, Belen Flores ; Mayer-Suess, Lukas ; Hobeanu, Cristina ; Zedde, Marialuisa ; Ramos, João Nuno ; Tsivgoulis, Georgios ; Castro, Pedro ; Poli, Sven ; Alves, José Nuno ; Dusart, Anne ; Fuentes, Blanca ; Tejada Meza, Herbert ; Demeestere, Jelle ; Wegener, Susanne ; Kellert, Lars ; Calleja, Patricia ; Panea, Cristina ; Vollmuth, Christoph ; Pereira, Liliana ; Leker, Ronen R. ; Uphaus, Timo ; Zini, Andrea ; Gensicke, Henrik ; Duloquin, Gauthier ; Ebrahimi, Taraneh ; Salerno, Alexander ; Tiu, Cristina ; Nguyen, Thanh N. ; García-Madrona, Sebastian ; Bilik, Marta ; Yaghi, Shadi ; Sienkiewicz-Jarosz, Halina ; Karliński, Michał ; Krebs, Stefan ; Hurtíková, Eva ; Ferreira, Nathalia ; Sargento-Freitas, João ; Pinho, João ; Caamaño, Isabel Rodriguez ; Gizewski, Elke Ruth ; Seners, Pierre ; Pascarella, Rosario ; Psychogios, Klearchos ; Gomez Exposito, Alexandra ; Gomes, Sara ; Bellante, Flavio ; Rodríguez-Pardo, Jorge ; Bautista Lacambra, Mario ; Lemmens, Robin ; Inauen, Corinne ; Wischmann, Johannes ; Ostos, Fernando ; Tiu, Vlad ; Haeusler, Karl Georg ; Rodrigues, Miguel ; Metanis, Issa ; Hahn, Marianne ; Viola, Maria Maddalena ; Truessel, Simon ; Bejot, Yannick ; Nitsch, Louisa ; Strambo, Davide ; Terecoasa, Elena Oana ; Abdalkader, Mohamad ; de Felipe, Alicia ; Khan, Farhan ; Arquizan, Caroline ; Ribeiro, Manuel ; Roubec, Martin ; Tomaszewska-Lampart, Izabella ; Ferrari, Julia ; Ringleb, Peter ; Nolte, Christian H.
• Date: 2025
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/182068
• Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
• Subject(s): cervical carotid; Endovascular treatment; internal carotid artery; mechanical thrombectomy; occlusion; outcome; Clinical Neurology; Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
• Document Type: Journal article
• Language: English
• Contributor(s): NOVA Medical School|Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (NMS|FCM); RUN

Description

Publisher Copyright: © European Stroke Organisation 2025.

Introduction: Evidence regarding the benefit of endovascular therapy (EVT) in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) due to isolated cervical internal carotid artery occlusion (c-ICA-O) is lacking. We assessed the outcomes and safety of EVT in patients with isolated c-ICA-O. Methods: Retrospective multicenter cohort study of patients with an AIS due to isolated c-ICA-O, within 24-h since last-seen-well. Comparisons were made between EVT and best medical therapy (BMT). The primary outcome was 3-months modified Rankin Scale (mRS) ordinal shift. Secondary outcomes included 3-month favorable outcome (mRS 0–2, or return to pre-stroke mRS), symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) and any parenchymal hemorrhage. Outcomes were compared combining inverse probability of treatment weighting with regression models and propensity score matching (PSM) as sensitivity analysis. Results: We analyzed 998 patients (66.2% male, mean age 71.1 ± 13.2 years). 487 (48.8%) patients received EVT and 511 (51.2%) received BMT. Patients receiving EVT had a higher admission NIHSS [13 (7–18) vs 5 (2–13)] compared to BMT. There was no difference between EVT and BMT groups in 3-month mRS shift (adjusted common odds ratio [OR], 1.01 [95% CI 0.76–1.34]) and favorable outcome (adjusted OR [aOR] 1.16 [95% CI 0.84–1.60]). No patient (0%) in the BMT group had sICH versus 1.6% in the EVT group. Parenchymal hemorrhage was numerically higher in EVT patients (2.7% vs 0.6%; aOR 3.85 [95% CI 0.98–15.23]). PSM analysis revealed similar results. Discussion and conclusion: In patients with isolated c-ICA-O, EVT was associated with similar odds of disability and intracranial bleeding compared to BMT. Randomized-controlled clinical trials in patients with isolated c-ICA-O are warranted.