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The mid-M1 segment of the middle cerebral artery is a cutoff clot location for good outcome in intravenous thrombolysis
European Journal of Neurology, 04/05/2012
Clinical Article
Saarinen JT et al. – The outcome of acute internal carotid artery or proximal M1 segment of the middle cerebral artery occlusion is generally poor even if treated with intravenous thrombolysis. Alternative revascularization strategies should be considered. Vascular imaging at the admission is required to guide this decision.
Methods- Anterior circulation thrombus was detected with computed tomography angiography in 105 patients.
- Baseline clinical and radiological information was collected and entered into logistic regression analysis to predict favorable clinical outcome (3-month modified Rankin Scale from 0 to 2 was a primary outcome measure).
- Three months after stroke, there was a significant increase in mortality (32% vs. 3%, P < 0.001) and functional dependency (82% vs. 29%, P < 0.001) in patients with internal carotid artery or proximal M1 segment of the middle cerebral artery thrombus compared to a more distal occlusion.
- In the regression analysis, after adjusting for National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, age, sex, and onset-to-treatment time, the clot location was an independent predictor of good clinical outcome (P = 0.001) and exhibited dose-response type behavior when moving from a proximal vessel position to a more distal one.
- When the location was dichotomized, a cutoff between the proximal and the distal M1 segments best differentiated between good and poor clinical outcome (OR = 16.0, 95% CI 3.9–66.2).
