Three-Month and Long-Term Outcomes and Their Predictors in Acute Basilar Artery Occlusion Treated With Intra-Arterial Thrombolysis

Intra-arterial thrombolysis can be used for treatment of basilar artery occlusion. Predictors of outcome before initiation of treatment are of special interest.

EPITHET: Positive Result After Reanalysis Using Baseline Diffusion-Weighted Imaging/Perfusion-Weighted Imaging Co-Registration

the Echoplanar Imaging Thrombolytic Evaluation Trial (EPITHET) was a prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, phase II trial of alteplase between 3 and 6 hours after stroke onset. The primary outcome of infarct growth attenuation on MRI with alteplase in mismatch patients was negative when mismatch volumes were assessed volumetrically, without coregistration, which underestimates mismatch volumes. We hypothesized that assessing the extent of mismatch by coregistration of perfusion and diffusion MRI maps may more accurately allow the effects of alteplase vs placebo to be evaluated.