Endovascular vs Medical Treatment of Basilar Artery Occlusion

Does endovascular thrombectomy provide sustained clinical benefit at 3 years compared with best medical management alone in patients with acute basilar artery occlusion?In this randomized clinical trial involving 303 patients, a significantly higher proportion of patients in the thrombectomy group achieved functional independence at 3 years compared with the control group. The 3-year follow-up also showed lower cumulative mortality in the thrombectomy group.These findings support the routine use of endovascular thrombectomy as the standard of care and underscore the need to expand access to thrombectomy services worldwide.

Corresponding Author: Prof Xinfeng Liu, Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, No. 17 Lujiang Road, Hefei 230001, Anhui, China (xfliu2@ustc.edu.cn); Dr. Raul G. Nogueira, the UPMC Stroke Institute, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, 200 Lothrop Street, Suite B-400, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (nogueirarg@upmc.edu).

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