According to an abstract presented at the International Stroke Conference 2022, an increase in the use of endovascular stroke therapy (EVT) was associated with excellent clinical outcomes as well as improvements to acute ischemic stroke (AIS) care on a population level.

Rania Abdelkhaleq, BS, graduate research assistant, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, presented the abstract on Friday, February 11.

Despite the increase of EVT procedures which has followed the 2015 and 2018 publication of randomized clinical trials, there is a lack of data concerning the effect of EVT on clinical outcomes for patients with AIS.

Researchers analyzed records from the Texas Public Use Data File, which includes full sample data on all patients who have been discharged from all state-licensed hospitals, from January 2016 through the first quarter of 2020. Hospitalizations for AIS and EVT use were identified by ICD-10 diagnostic and procedure codes respectively. Excellent clinical outcome was defined as discharge to home.

Of the 165,738 AIS cases included, 61% of patients were >65 years old, 51% were female, and 51% were White. The authors wrote, over the course of the study period, “EVT utilization increased 0.25% per quarter [95% CI 0.23-0.27, P <0.001].” Additionally, excellent clinical outcomes increased 0.21% per quarter [95% CI 0.16-0.25, p <0.001]. The researchers observed a “positive correlation between increasing EVT utilization and excellent clinical outcomes” at the population-level (R=0.64, p < 0.003).

The results of this analysis provide evidence that improved EVT access and utilization can result in population-level improvements in AIS care.

Reference:

Abdelkhaleq R, Kim Y, Salazar-Marioni S, et al. Population-level trends in clinal outcomes and endovascular stroke therapy in acute ischemic stroke. Abstract presented at: International Stroke Conference; February 9-11, 2022; New Orleans, LA.