Association between stroke subtypes and outcomes of endovascular therapy: a post-hoc analysis of the ANGEL-ASPECT Trial

Objectives Our study aims to examine the value of endovascular therapy (EVT) and its comparison to medical management (MM) in ischaemic stroke patients accompanied by large artery atherosclerosis (LAA) and non-LAA Methods modified Rankin scale score (mRS) was evaluated at 90 days post the stroke attack and was considered as the primary outcome. Other outcomes measured in this study included score changes of 0–2 and 0–3 on the mRS. The occurrence of symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage at 24 hours after EVT was also measured as a safety endpoint. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the associations. Results In the LAA group, no significant difference in mRS at 90-day (median IQR 3 (2–5) vs 4 (3–4), 95% CI 0.53 to 2.00, p=0.924), mRS 0–2 and mRS 0–3 was observed between EVT and MM groups. However, in the non-LAA group, patients who underwent EVT had lower 90-day mRS scores (4 (2–5) vs 4 (3–5), generalised OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.88, p<0.001). No interaction effect on the primary outcomes between treatment options and aetiology. More intracranial haemorrhage events within 48 hours were identified in the EVT group for both LAA and non-LAA cohorts (LAA: 40.98% vs 9.62%, relative risk (RR) 4.26, 95% CI 1.76 to 10.34, p<0.001; non-LAA, 52.07% vs 19.65%, RR 2.65, 95% CI 1.90 to 3.70, respectively). Conclusions For large infarcts, EVT may be more effective than MM for patients with non-LAA aetiology, but not for those with LAA stroke. As no interaction effect was found, the benefit of EVT compared with MM did not vary by stroke subtypes. Data are available on reasonable request.