Faculty Bibliography

Initially developed for large and giant wide-necked aneurysms of the internal carotid artery, flow diverter devices are now used in almost every location safely and with effectiveness.1-5 This video demonstrates a unique case of a giant aneurysm of the right petrous internal carotid artery in a 20-yr-old patient. This is an extremely rare location, and most of patients are asymptomatic.3-6 Signs of compression of the seventh and eight cranial nerves can be present and even Horner syndrome and lower cranial nerves neuropathies. Nevertheless, rupture can lead to epistaxis and otorrhagia, and ultimately to hemorrhagic shock. The patient in the current report was otherwise healthy but presented with lightheadedness and dizziness for 10 d. The patient consented to the procedure. There was no history of major trauma or head and neck infection. A transradial endovascular flow diversion embolization of a giant aneurysm of the petrous internal carotid artery is herein demonstrated in a stepwise manner. A triaxial system was used to deploy 3 overlapping devices. Concepts of J-wire technique, multiple coverage,1 and the so-called weld technique are emphasized. The role of adjunctive coiling and main reasons for failure are also discussed.7,8 Brief cases of flow diversion embolization of aneurysms of different morphologies at different locations are used to highlight the importance of assessing vessel wall apposition and follow-up imaging.

BACKGROUND:The COVID-19 pandemic led to profound changes in the organization of health care systems worldwide. AIMS/OBJECTIVE:We sought to measure the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the volumes for mechanical thrombectomy (MT), stroke, and intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) hospitalizations over a 3-month period at the height of the pandemic (March 1 to May 31, 2020) compared with two control 3-month periods (immediately preceding and one year prior). METHODS:Retrospective, observational, international study, across 6 continents, 40 countries, and 187 comprehensive stroke centers. The diagnoses were identified by their ICD-10 codes and/or classifications in stroke databases at participating centers. RESULTS:The hospitalization volumes for any stroke, ICH, and MT were 26,699, 4,002, and 5,191 in the 3 months immediately before versus 21,576, 3,540, and 4,533 during the first 3 pandemic months, representing declines of 19.2% (95%CI,-19.7 to -18.7), 11.5% (95%CI,-12.6 to -10.6), and 12.7% (95%CI,-13.6 to -11.8), respectively. The decreases were noted across centers with high, mid, and low COVID-19 hospitalization burden, and also across high, mid, and low volume stroke/MT centers. High-volume COVID-19 centers (-20.5%) had greater declines in MT volumes than mid- (-10.1%) and low-volume (-8.7%) centers (p<0.0001). There was a 1.5% stroke rate across 54,366 COVID-19 hospitalizations. SARS-CoV-2 infection was noted in 3.9% (784/20,250) of all stroke admissions. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a global decline in the volume of overall stroke hospitalizations, MT procedures, and ICH admission volumes. Despite geographic variations, these volume reductions were observed regardless of COVID-19 hospitalization burden and pre-pandemic stroke/MT volumes.

BACKGROUND:In the post-Carotid Occlusion Surgery Study (COSS) era, multiple reviews suggested subset groups of patients as potential candidates for superficial temporal artery to middle cerebral artery (STA-MCA) bypass. Among them are patients with recurrent strokes despite optimal medical therapy. There is a paucity of data on the outcome of bypass in these specific patients. OBJECTIVE:To examine the safety and efficacy of direct STA-MCA bypass in patients with nonmoyamoya, symptomatic steno-occlusive disease with impaired distal perfusion, who failed optimal medical management or endovascular treatment. METHODS:A retrospective review was performed to identify patients with cerebrovascular steno-occlusive disease who underwent bypass after symptomatic recurrent or rapidly progressive strokes, despite optimal conservative or endovascular treatment. RESULTS:A total of 8 patients (mean age 60 ± 6 yr) underwent direct or combined direct/indirect STA-MCA bypass between 2016 and 2019. All anastomoses were patent. One bypass carried slow flow. There were no procedure-related permanent deficits. One patient developed seizures which were controlled by medications. A total of 7 out of 8 patients were stable or improved clinically at last follow-up (mean 27.3 ± 13.8 mo) without recurrent strokes. One patient did not recover from their presenting stroke, experienced severe bilateral strokes 4 mo postoperatively, and subsequently expired. Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) improved in 6 patients (75%), remained stable in 1 patient (12.5%), and deteriorated in 1 (12.5%). Good long-term functional outcome was achieved in 5 patients (63%, mRS ≤ 2). CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:Patients with symptomatic, hypoperfused steno-occlusive disease who fail optimal medical or endovascular treatment may benefit from cerebral revascularization. Direct or combined STA-MCA bypass was safe and provided favorable outcomes in this small series.

BACKGROUND AND IMPORTANCE/BACKGROUND:Spinal cord infarction is rare but can be extremely disabling. Prompt diagnosis and treatment of these infarcts is important for patient outcomes. While intravenous thrombolytic therapy is a well-established form of treatment in circumstances of cerebral stroke, it has only recently been successfully used in a few incidents of spinal cord ischemia. We present a case of anterior spinal artery (ASA) territory ischemia treated with ASA intra-arterial thrombolytic therapy. CLINICAL PRESENTATION/METHODS:A 52-year-old male presented with acute onset of severe lumbar pain, rapidly progressing paraplegia and loss of pain and temperature sensation, with preservation of proprioception and vibratory sensation at the L1 level and below on the right and at the L3 level and below on the left. MRI showed restricted diffusion involving the cord at and below L1 level, with normal cord T2 signal. Digital subtraction spinal angiography showed ASA cutoff in the descending limb at the level of L1. Intra-arterial tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) combined with verapamil and eptifibatide was administered within the ASA and the patient had significant neurological improvement immediately postoperatively and at 8-month clinical follow-up. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:Direct ASA intra-arterial thrombolysis is feasible, and this drug combination might be an effective therapy for spinal stroke.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we explored cortical activation in patients with acute Bell's palsy (BP) and analyzed its correlates with clinical status in the acute phase, and with 6-month outcome. METHODS:Twenty-four right-handed patients with acute BP within 15 days of onset and 24 healthy controls underwent fMRI during performance of unilateral active (hemi-smiling) and passive lip movement tasks with both the paretic and the normal lip. The degree of paresis was evaluated during the acute stage and at the 6-month follow up using the House-Brackmann (HB) grading scale. Complete recovery was defined as HB grade II or less at the end of the 6-month period. The difference in the HB grade (ΔHB) between the acute stage and the 6-month follow up was used to evaluate clinical improvement. RESULTS:There were 24 patients with unilateral acute BP. HB grades ranged from III to VI. At 6 months, 11 patients (46%) had completely recovered and 12 (50%) were partially improved. Compared with healthy subjects, BP patients had a significantly greater activation of the frontal areas and the insula ipsilateral to the paretic side. In BP patients, there was an inverse correlation between the activation of the ipsilateral hemisphere when moving the paretic side and the degree of paresis at baseline. An association was also observed between activation and clinical outcome (both complete recovery and ΔHB). CONCLUSIONS:In patients with BP, fMRI may represent a useful tool to predict long-term outcome, guide therapeutic approach, and monitor treatment response.

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) can be a devastating complication of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). We aimed to assess risk factors associated with ICH in this population. We performed a retrospective cohort study of adult patients admitted to NYU Langone Health system between March 1 and April 27 2020 with a positive nasopharyngeal swab polymerase chain reaction test result and presence of primary nontraumatic intracranial hemorrhage or hemorrhagic conversion of ischemic stroke on neuroimaging. Patients with intracranial procedures, malignancy, or vascular malformation were excluded. We used regression models to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (OR, 95% CI) of the association between ICH and covariates. We also used regression models to determine association between ICH and mortality. Among 3824 patients admitted with COVID-19, 755 patients had neuroimaging and 416 patients were identified after exclusion criteria were applied. The mean (standard deviation) age was 69.3 (16.2), 35.8% were women, and 34.9% were on therapeutic anticoagulation. ICH occurred in 33 (7.9%) patients. Older age, non-Caucasian race, respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation, and therapeutic anticoagulation were associated with ICH on univariate analysis (p < 0.01 for each variable). In adjusted regression models, anticoagulation use was associated with a five-fold increased risk of ICH (OR 5.26, 95% CI 2.33-12.24, p < 0.001). ICH was associated with increased mortality (adjusted OR 2.6, 95 % CI 1.2-5.9). Anticoagulation use is associated with increased risk of ICH in patients with COVID-19. Further investigation is required to elucidate underlying mechanisms and prevention strategies in this population.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:While the thrombotic complications of COVID-19 have been well described, there are limited data on clinically significant bleeding complications including hemorrhagic stroke. The clinical characteristics, underlying stroke mechanism, and outcomes in this particular subset of patients are especially salient as therapeutic anticoagulation becomes increasingly common in the treatment and prevention of thrombotic complications of COVID-19. METHODS:We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients with hemorrhagic stroke (both non-traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage and spontaneous non-aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage) who were hospitalized between March 1, 2020, and May 15, 2020, within a major healthcare system in New York, during the coronavirus pandemic. Patients with hemorrhagic stroke on admission and who developed hemorrhage during hospitalization were both included. We compared the clinical characteristics of patients with hemorrhagic stroke and COVID-19 to those without COVID-19 admitted to our hospital system between March 1, 2020, and May 15, 2020 (contemporary controls), and March 1, 2019, and May 15, 2019 (historical controls). Demographic variables and clinical characteristics between the individual groups were compared using Fischer's exact test for categorical variables and nonparametric test for continuous variables. We adjusted for multiple comparisons using the Bonferroni method. RESULTS:During the study period in 2020, out of 4071 patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19, we identified 19 (0.5%) with hemorrhagic stroke. Of all COVID-19 with hemorrhagic stroke, only three had isolated non-aneurysmal SAH with no associated intraparenchymal hemorrhage. Among hemorrhagic stroke in patients with COVID-19, coagulopathy was the most common etiology (73.7%); empiric anticoagulation was started in 89.5% of these patients versus 4.2% in contemporary controls (p ≤ .001) and 10.0% in historical controls (p ≤ .001). Compared to contemporary and historical controls, patients with COVID-19 had higher initial NIHSS scores, INR, PTT, and fibrinogen levels. Patients with COVID-19 also had higher rates of in-hospital mortality (84.6% vs. 4.6%, p ≤ 0.001). Sensitivity analyses excluding patients with strictly subarachnoid hemorrhage yielded similar results. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:We observed an overall low rate of imaging-confirmed hemorrhagic stroke among patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Most hemorrhages in patients with COVID-19 infection occurred in the setting of therapeutic anticoagulation and were associated with increased mortality. Further studies are needed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of therapeutic anticoagulation in patients with COVID-19.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:Brain infarct growth, despite successful reperfusion, decreases the likelihood of good functional outcome after ischemic stroke. In patients undergoing reperfusion, admission glucose is associated with poor outcome but the effect of glucose level on infarct growth is not well studied. MATERIALS AND METHODS/METHODS:This is a secondary analysis of the DEFUSE 3 trial. The primary predictor was baseline glucose level and the primary outcome is the change of the ischemic core volume from the baseline to 24-hour follow-up imaging (∆core), transformed as a cube root to reduce right skew. We included DEFUSE 3 patients who were randomized to endovascular therapy, had perfusion imaging data at baseline, an MRI at 24 hours, and who achieved TICI 2b or 3. Linear regression models, both unadjusted and adjusted, were fit to the primary outcome and all models included the baseline core volume as a covariate to normalize ∆core. RESULTS:We identified 62 patients who met our inclusion criteria. The mean age was 68.1±13.1 (years), 48.4% (30/62) were men, and the median (IQR) cube root of ∆core was 2.8 (2.0-3.8) mL. There was an association between baseline glucose level and normalized ∆core in unadjusted analysis (beta coefficient 0.010, p = 0.01) and after adjusting for potential confounders (beta coefficient 0.008, p = 0.03). CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:In acute ischemic stroke patients with large vessel occlusion undergoing successful endovascular reperfusion, baseline hyperglycemia is associated with infarction growth. Further study is needed to establish potential neuroprotective benefits of aggressive glycemic control prior to and after reperfusion.

Background and Purpose There are a myriad of aspiration catheters used for primary aspiration for mechanical embolectomy for acute ischemic stroke. Over the past several years there has been increased interest in the use of the 6Fr Sofia Plus aspiration catheter as a primary aspiration catheter due to its trackability and navigability. We performed a multicenter retrospective study examining the efficacy of the Sofia aspiration catheter as a stand-alone aspiration treatment for large vessel occlusion. Materials and Methods This was an investigator initiated study and no study funding was received. Following Institutional Review Board Approval, consecutive cases in which the Sofia catheter was used for aspiration thrombectomy for treatment of large vessel occlusion were included. Exclusion criteria were the following: 1) Sofia not used for first pass, and 2) stent-triever used as an adjunct on the first pass. The primary outcome of the study was first pass recanalization (TICI 2b/3). Secondary outcomes included first pass TICI 2c/3, final TICI using Sofia alone, cross-over to other thrombectomy devices, number of passes, time from puncture to recanalization and complications. Results From the six centers, a total of 323 patients were included. First pass recanalization with TICI 2b/3 was achieved in 69.7% of cases. First pass recanalization with TICI 2c/3 was achieved in 48.9% of cases. 74.8% patients achieved a TICI 2b/3 with the Sofia alone. Cross-over to other thrombectomy devices occurred in 29.1% of cases. The median number of passes performed was 1.5 (IQR=1-3). Median time from puncture to recanalization was 25 (IQR=15-35). Procedure related complications occurred in 2.8% of cases. Conclusion Our study highlights the potential advantage of the 5Fr and 6Fr Sofia aspiration catheters for primary aspiration thrombectomy in acute ischemic stroke. We were able to achieve high rates of first pass recanalization with low cross-over rates to other thrombectomy devices. Median procedure time was low as were procedural complications