Original research article - Special issue: Acute Ischemic Stroke The importance of time: Time delays in acute stroke

a b s t r a c t Background: Endovascular treatment (EVT) of severe acute ischemic stroke (AIS) determined by large vessel occlusion (LVO) is effective and safe. Debate still goes on especially about time importance and utilization of advanced penumbra imaging at the expense of loosing valuable minutes. Methods: We did a meta-analysis focused on time of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that started to use methodically the new-tech stent retrievers. The chosen time interval was onset-groin time (from last seen well to sheath insertion in the cathlab). Primary outcome was good functional outcome (mRS of 0–2) at 90 days, and secondary outcomes were mortality at 90 days and symptomatic intra-cerebral hemorrhage (sICH). Furthermore, we did a sub-analysis of the EVT patients to find a correlation between faster times and outcomes. We did the same sub-analysis including also single-arm registries that used modern stent retrievers.