Endovascular Therapy for Acute Ischemic Stroke

Over the last 30 years, the standard of care in acute stroke witnessed a paradigm shift to incorporate percutaneous intra-arterial therapy, either alone or along with intravenous thrombolytics. This chapter provides an overview of evidence-based treatments, revascularization techniques, and the prospect of care in acute stroke. The main focus of this review is on clinical trial data, different devices, techniques, and triage criteria for patients with acute stroke. Individual trials are summarized in tables for comparison. Tables and figures emphasize the importance and change in overall outcome with the use of intra-arterial treatment and to compare with intravenous treatment alone. The chapter concludes with future perspectives and challenges of acute stroke care, with changes at the national, regional, and local levels with a goal to treat as many eligible stroke patients as possible.