European Stroke Organisation Conference
May 22–24, 2019

Elena Zapata-Arriaza, MD
@ElenaZaps

The annual European Stroke Organisation Conference was held May 22 to 24 in Milan. There were countless sessions with a high scientific quality. In particular, the scientific communications session “Endovascular Treatment – Clinical Practice,” held on May 22, revealed interesting findings. Among all the refreshing results, I would like to highlight the following:

Dr. Georgios Tsivgoulis, from the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, showed interesting data about a systematic review and meta-analysis of bridging therapy (BT) versus direct mechanical thrombectomy(MT) in stroke patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO). The mentioned systematic review included 38 studies with a sample of 11.798 patients. The main conclusions of the study exposed that pretreatment with IVT does not increase complication nor results in measurably delayed reperfusion in LVO patients treated with MT. In addition, their results, also showed a potential benefit on functional outcome and mortality in patients receiving BT compared to direct MT.

Another interesting study displayed in this session was TRIANA (Thrombectomy in Andalucia using Aspiration vs standard stentriever). In this presentation, Dr. Asier De Albóniga-Chindurza, from University hospital Virgen del Rocío in Seville (Spain), concluded that distal aspiration was faster than stent with a direct impact on recanalization and outcome, more pronounced during the first 30 minutes. Furthermore, TRIANA revealed that, despite the same number of passes required globally, the success of the procedure for the attempts was more frequent in case of aspiration.

Finally, Dr. Maja Steinlin, on behalf of the Swiss Neuropediatric Stroke registry, showed safety and outcome results of recanalization treatment in childhood and young adult stroke. The final included sample was 19 children and adolescents and 175 young adults. The main conclusions of the presentation exhibited that safety and outcome of recanalization treatment was comparable to observed in young adults. No differences were observed in children and adults treated with MT, and children receiving IVT , compared to adults, showed higher initial pedNIHSS, delayed treatment initiation and worse outcome.