Do initial clinical symptoms affect the outcome of ischemic stroke patients with recanalization treatment?

Aim: The aim was to assess the dependency of the 90-day clinical outcome on the initial symptoms of ischemic stroke (IS) in patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) and/ or endovascular therapy (EVT). Materials and methods: In a retrospective, observational, one-center study, we assessed the effect of initial IS symptoms, achieved times and degree of recanalization on a 90-day clinical outcome in a set of 809 IS patients treated with IVT and/ or EVT. Results: In the IVT group, age (odds ratio [OR] = 0.94, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.91-0.96), baseline neurological deficit (OR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.86-0.96), and the presence of limb paresis (OR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.25-0.97) were identified as significant negative predictors of a good 90-day clinical outcome. In the EVT (+/- IVT) group, age (OR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.91-0.95) and initial neurological deficit (OR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.80-0.89) were identified as significant negative predictors and successful recanalization (OR = 4.31, 95% CI: 2.44-7.81) as a significant positive predictor of a good 90-day clinical outcome (P < 0.05 in all cases). Conclusions: Our results showed that the presence of limb paresis was associated with a worse clinical outcome in patients treated with IVT alone, while the presence of other IS symptoms did not affect a 90-day clinical outcome in patients treated with recanalization therapy.