Efficacy of Mechanical Thrombectomy Using Stent Retriever and Balloon-Guiding Catheter

Purpose Intra-arterial therapy of acute ischemic stroke has developed rapidly in recent years. Due to proven efficacy in randomized trials, stent retrievers were replacing first-generation thrombectomy devices and have been defined as method of choice. However, aspiration catheters or a combination of several techniques have shown promising rates of successful recanalizations. To create a basis for comparison of the new approaches according to real-world data, we determined the first pass recanalization rate of an evidence-based standard technique with the use of a stent retriever in combination with a balloon-guiding catheter. The assessment was based on the number of required passages and reperfusion rate, but not on clinical results.