Patients with single distal MCA perfusion lesions have a high rate of good outcome with or without reperfusion.

BackgroundReperfusion is associated with good functional outcome after stroke. However, minimal data are available regarding the effect of reperfusion on clinical outcome and infarct growth in patients with distal MCA branch occlusions.AimThe aim of this study was to evaluate this association and to determine the impact of the perfusion-diffusion mismatch.MethodsIndividual patient data from three stroke studies (EPITHET, DEFUSE and DEFUSE 2) with baseline MRI profiles and reperfusion status were pooled. Patients were included if they had a single cortical perfusion lesion on their baseline MRI that was consistent with a distal MCA branch occlusion. Good functional outcome was defined as a score of 0–2 on the modified Rankin Scale at day 90 and infarct growth was defined as change in lesion volume between the baseline DWI and the final T2/FLAIR.ResultsThirty patients met inclusion criteria. Eighteen (60%) had a good functional outcome and twenty (67%) had reperfusion. Reperfusion was not associated with go...