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Background and purpose: Delayed cerebral ischaemia (DCI) is a severe complication of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage that can significantly impact clinical outcome. Cerebral vasospasm is part of the pathophysiology of DCI and therefore a computed tomography angiography (CTA) Vasospasm Score was developed and an exploration was carried out of whether this score predicts DCI and subsequent poor outcome after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Methods: The CTA Vasospasm Score sums the degree of angiographic cerebral vasospasm of 17 intradural arterial segments. The score ranges from 0 to 34 with a higher score reflecting more severe vasospasm. Outcome measures were cerebral infarction due to DCI (CI‐DCI), radiological and clinical DCI, and unfavorable functional outcome defined as a modified Rankin Scale >2 at 6 months. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were used to assess predictive value and to determine optimal cut‐off scores. Inter‐rater reliability was evaluated by Cohen's kappa coefficient. Results: This study included 59 patients. CI‐DCI occurred in eight patients (14%), DCI in 14 patients (24%) and unfavorable outcome in 12 patients (20%). Median CTA Vasospasm Scores were higher in patients with (CI‐)DCI and poor outcome. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed the highest area under the curve on day 5: CI‐DCI 0.89 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.79–0.99), DCI 0.68 (95% CI 0.50–0.87) and functional outcome 0.74 (95% CI 0.57–0.91). Cohen's kappa between the two raters was moderate to substantial (0.57–0.63). Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the CTA Vasospasm Score on day 5 can reliably identify patients with a high risk of developing (CI‐)DCI and unfavorable outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: The Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysm Treatment Score (UIATS) was built to harmonize the treatment decision making on unruptured intracranial aneurysms. Therefore, it may also function as a predictor of aneurysm progression. In this study, we aimed to assess the validity of the UIATS model to identify aneurysms at risk of growth or rupture during follow‐up. Methods: We calculated the UIATS for a consecutive series of conservatively treated unruptured intracranial aneurysms, included in our prospectively kept neurovascular database. Computed tomography angiography and/or magnetic resonance angiography imaging at baseline and during follow‐up was analyzed to detect aneurysm growth. We defined rupture as a cerebrospinal fluid or computed tomography–proven subarachnoid hemorrhage. We calculated the area under the receiver operator curve, sensitivity, and specificity, to determine the performance of the UIATS model. Results: We included 214 consecutive patients with 277 unruptured intracranial aneurysms. Aneurysms were followed for a median period of 1.3 years (range 0.3–11.7 years). During follow‐up, 17 aneurysms enlarged (6.1%), and two aneurysms ruptured (0.7%). The UIATS model showed a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 44%. The area under the receiver operator curve was 0.62 (95% confidence interval 0.46–0.79). Conclusions: Our observational study involving consecutive patients with an unruptured intracranial aneurysm showed poor performance of the UIATS model to predict aneurysm growth or rupture during follow‐up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The efficacy and safety of local intra-arterial (IA) thrombolytics during endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) for large-vessel occlusions is uncertain. We analysed how often IA thrombolytics were administered in the Multicenter Randomized Clinical Trial of Endovascular Treatment for Acute Ischemic Stroke in the Netherlands (MR CLEAN) Registry, whether it was associated with improved functional outcome and assessed technical and safety outcomes compared with EVT without IA thrombolytics., Methods: In this observational study, we included patients undergoing EVT for an acute ischaemic stroke in the anterior circulation from the MR CLEAN Registry (March 2014-November 2017). The primary endpoint was favourable functional outcome, defined as an modified Rankin Scale score ≤2 at 90 days. Secondary endpoints were reperfusion status, early neurological recovery and symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage (sICH). Subgroup analyses for IA thrombolytics as primary versus adjuvant revascularisation attempt were performed., Results: Of the 2263 included patients, 95 (4.2%) received IA thrombolytics during EVT. The IA thrombolytics administered were urokinase (median dose, 250 000 IU (IQR, 1 93 750-2 50 000)) or alteplase (median dose, 20 mg (IQR, 12-20)). No association was found between IA thrombolytics and favourable functional outcome (adjusted OR (aOR), 1.16; 95% CI 0.71 to 1.90). Successful reperfusion was less often observed in those patients treated with IA thrombolytics (aOR, 0.57; 95% CI 0.36 to 0.90). The odds of sICH (aOR, 0.82; 95% CI 0.32 to 2.10) and early neurological recovery were comparable between patients treated with and without IA thrombolytics. For primary and adjuvant revascularisation attempts, IA thrombolytics were more often administered for proximal than for distal occlusions. Functional outcomes were comparable for patients receiving IA thrombolytics as a primary versus adjuvant revascularisation attempt., Conclusion: Local IA thrombolytics were rarely used in the MR CLEAN Registry. In the relatively small study sample, no statistical difference was observed between groups in the rate of favourable functional outcome or sICH. Patients whom required and underwent IA thrombolytics were patients less likely to achieve successful reperfusion, probably due to selection bias., Competing Interests: Competing interests: Amsterdam University Medical Centre received funds from Stryker® for consultations by Prof. Dr. Majoie, Prof. Dr. Roos, and Drs. Berkhemer. Maastricht University Medical Centre received funds from Stryker® and Codman® for consultations by Prof. Dr. Van Zwam. Prof. Dr. Majoie: Related: Grants TWIN Foundation; Unrelated: Grants from CVON/Dutch Heart Foundation, Stryker, European Commission, TWIN Foundation, Health Evaluation Netherlands (all paid to institution); shareholder of Nico-lab, a company that focuses on the use of artificial intelligence for medical image analysis (modest). The other authors report no conflicts., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)