Effect of anaesthesia modality on outcome in medium or distal vessel occlusion stroke: a post-hoc analysis of the DISTAL trial
Silja Räty, Daniel Strbian, Laura Mannismäki, Mira Katan, Ronen R Leker, Robin Lemmens, Alejandro Tomasello, Julie Staals, Johannes Kaesmacher, Jan-Hendrik Buhk, Marta Olive Gadea, Juan F Arenillas, Nicolas Martinez-Majander, Steven D Hajdu, Patrik Michel, Volker Puetz, Flavio Bellante, Sylvie De Raedt, Daniel Bolliger, Vera Aebischer, Nikki Rommers, Alex Brehm, Marios Psychogios, Urs FischerAbstract
Introduction
Of the 3 published trials, only 1 showed possible efficacy of endovascular treatment (EVT) compared to best medical treatment (BMT) alone for medium or distal vessel occlusions (MDVO), whereas the others were neutral. Procedural conditions may affect the outcome.
Patients and methods
This is a post-hoc analysis of the randomised, controlled DISTAL trial, conducted in 55 centers between 12/2021 and 7/2024. Patients with isolated MDVO within 24 hours of last seen well randomised to EVT plus BMT were treated under general anaesthesia (GA), conscious sedation (CS) or local anaesthesia (LA) at investigators’ discretion. Endovascular treatment under different anaesthesia modalities was compared head-to-head, and to BMT alone.
Results
Among 491 patients included in the analysis, 224 received EVT plus BMT (108 GA, 64 LA, 52 CS) and 267 received BMT alone. Compared to BMT alone, EVT under CS was associated with worse 90-day modified Rankin Scale (median 2.5 vs 2.0; adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.51 [95% CI 0.29–0.90]), whereas no difference was observed between EVT under other anaesthesia modalities and BMT alone. Symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage occurred more frequently after EVT under GA compared to BMT alone (8.3% vs 2.6%; aOR 3.37 [95% CI, 1.22–9.66]). LA was associated with higher odds of better functional outcome (aOR 2.11 [95% CI, 1.09–4.12]) and lower mortality (aOR 0.28 [95% CI, 0.08–0.95]) compared to CS, whereas there was no difference to GA.
Discussion and conclusion
The lack of superiority of EVT plus BMT over BMT alone in DISTAL may not have been driven by anaesthesia modality.