Impact of General Anesthesia on Safety and Outcomes in the Endovascular Arm of Interventional Management of Stroke (IMS) III Trial

Background and Purpose—General anesthesia (GA) for endovascular therapy (EVT) of acute ischemic stroke may be associated with worse outcomes. Methods—The Interventional Management of Stroke III trial randomized patients within 3 hours of acute ischemic stroke onset to intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator±EVT. GA use within 7 hours of stroke onset was recorded per protocol. Good outcome was defined as 90-day modified Rankin Scale ≤2. A multivariable analysis adjusting for dichotomized National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS; 8–19 versus ≥20), age, and time from onset to groin puncture was performed. Results—Four hundred thirty-four patients were randomized to EVT, 269 (62%) were treated under local anesthesia and 147 (33.9%) under GA; 18 (4%) were undetermined. The 2 groups were comparable except for median baseline NIHSS (16 local anesthesia versus 18 GA; P<0.0001). The GA group was less likely to achieve a good outcome (adjusted relative risk, 0.68; confidence interval, 0.52–0.90; P=0....