She noted that “this is likely an underestimate,” and “too small a sample to project to national estimates,” but concluded that “resources must be adapted to account for this increased volume in endovascular treatment.”
Dr. Khatri acknowledged that the new 6- to 24-hour window for endovascular therapy, and concerns about imaging delays in 0- to 6-hour patients, raise challenging issues regarding the message to give U.S. clinicians about treating acute ischemic stroke patients.
“We have a mandate to figure it out in every region. There is no doubt that stroke patients need access to this care. We need to become a lot more aggressive with endovascular treatment. It’s so gratifying to see the outcomes that we’re seeing,” Dr. Khatri said. “A lot of work is needed to accommodate endovascular therapy–eligible patients in an extended time window. We need more refined prehospital triage tools, we need to adequately implement imaging software, and we need increased capacity to perform endovascular treatment with additional procedure suites, operators, and ICU beds.”
Dr. Jovin has been a consultant to Anaconda Biomed, Blockade Medical, Cerenovus, FreeOx Biotech, and Silk Road Medical. Dr. Nogueira has received travel expense reimbursement from Stryker. Dr. Khatri has been a consultant to Biogen, Medpace/Novartis, and St. Jude; has received travel support from Neuravi and EmstoPA; and has received research support from Genentech, Lumosa, and Neurospring. Dr. Albers has an ownership interest in iSchemaView, the company that markets the RAPID imaging software, and is a consultant to iSchemaView and Medtronic.