Index by author

The authors used CTA to assess arterial stenosis and occlusion in an ischemic stroke population arriving at a tertiary stroke center within 24 hours of symptom onset to obtain a comprehensive picture of occlusive disease pattern. Extra- and intracranial pathology, defined as stenosis of ≥50% and occlusions, were registered and classified into 21 prespecified segments. In the 50,807 arterial segments available for revision, 1851 (3.6%) abnormal segments were in the ischemic (symptomatic) territory and another 408 (0.8%) were outside it (asymptomatic). In the 1211 patients with ischemic stroke imaged within 6 hours of symptom onset, 40.7% had symptomatic large, proximal occlusions. They conclude that CTA in patients with acute ischemic stroke shows large individual variations of occlusion sites and degrees. Approximately half of patients have no visible occlusive disease, and 40% imaged within 6 hours show large, proximal segment occlusions amenable to endovascular therapy.