THROMBECTOMY: COMPARISON BETWEEN THE SINGLE AND DUAL STENTRIEVER TECHNIQUES

Background and aims

For thrombectomy, some stroke centres have started to use two stents simultaneously instead of only one to achieve better recanalisation rates, i.e. a double stentriever (DS) technique. The first observations regarding this new technique are promising. We aim to report our experience in DS at the acute phase of stroke, compare with the single stentriever technique.

Methods

We included consecutive individuals undergoing mechanical thrombectomy in the setting of acute ischemic stroke associated to a large vessel occlusion (LVO) or medium vessel occlusion (MeVO) in the anterior circulation. Individuals were included between 01.2022 and 07.2023. We excluded individuals <18 years old, those who were treated beyond 24h from last proof of good health and those who were not treated with stentriever as a first-line recanalization strategy. We compared patients undergoing double-stentriever (DS) technique for first-pass strategy vs single-stentriever (SS) technique for first-pass strategy. For the primary outcome analysis, we assessed first-pass complete recanalization (eTICI 2c-3) applying ordinal regression analyses using other prognostic co-variates. Secondary safety outcomes included procedure-related complications, early neurologic deterioration of ischemic origin (ENDi) and symptomatic intracerebral bleeding (sICH). Secondary functional outcomes included 24h-NIHSS and 3 month modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Complications such as procedural perforation, dissection, bleedings, embolization, access complication and/or reocclusion were also assessed as a dichotomized variable. Ethical commission approval and individual consent were not required according to the Swiss Human Research Act because all local data were anonymized before analysis, and because this quality assessment project aimed at the evaluation of safety and effectiveness of revascularisation treatment in current clinical practice.

Results

Among 187 consecutive people (median age 76 (IQR= 65-83), 97/187 (52 % female, median admission NIHSS 14 (IQR=7-19)). Among them, 39 (26%) were treated with first pass DS and 148 patients (74%) with first pass SS. Within the SS group, 16 patients had rescue DS. First-pass complete recanalization (eTICI 2c-3) was achieved in 29/39 (74%) individuals treated with DS technique compared to 63/148 (43%) receiving SS technique. Procedural complications were seen in 5/39 (13%) in the DS group vs 39/148 (26%) with SS. ENDi was evidenced in 3/39 (8%) with DS compared to 18/148 (12%) with SS. sICH according to ECASSII definition was seen in 2/39 (5%) in DS compared to 8/148 (5%) in the SS group.

Conclusions

We dramatically increase the rate of first pass eTICI 2c/3 with DS. We didn't observe more complication rate during DS technique. Prospective randomized controlled trials are needed to support our conclusions.