Endovascular Treatment May Benefit Patients With Low Baseline Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score: Results From the MR CLEAN Registry

BACKGROUND Current American guidelines are uncertain regarding endovascular treatment (EVT) for patients with acute ischemic stroke with an Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score (ASPECTS) <6. Dutch guidelines do not specify ASPECTS‐based exclusion criteria for EVT. In this retrospective observational cohort study, we investigated outcomes of EVT in patients with low ASPECTS in the MR CLEAN (Multicenter Randomized Clinical Trial of Endovascular Treatment for Acute Ischemic Stroke in The Netherlands) registry. METHODS ASPECTS was trichotomized into 0 to 2, 3 to 5, and 6 to 10, according to the grouping used in the ongoing trials. The effect of ASPECTS (granular and trichotomized) on 90‐day functional outcome (modified Rankin Scale score) and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage was assessed with multivariable logistic regression. We included multiplicative interaction terms to evaluate treatment interaction between ASPECTS and reperfusion (extended thrombolysis in cerebral infarction score 2B‐3) as a proxy for EVT. RESULTS Among 3075 included patients, higher ASPECTS was associated with improved functional outcome (granular: adjusted common odds ratio [acOR], 1.06; 95% CI, 1.02–1.10; trichotomized: acOR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.23–1.87). Interaction with reperfusion was not significant ( P =0.99 for granular, P =0.76 for trichotomized ASPECTS). All ASPECTS subgroups showed benefit of reperfusion (0–2 [n = 39]: acOR, 7.40; 95% CI, 1.41–18.68; 3–5 [n = 214]: acOR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.13–3.34; 6–10 [n = 2822]: acOR, 2.41; 95% CI, 2.08–2.80). ASPECTS was not associated with symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (granular: acOR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.92–1.10, trichotomized: acOR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.60–1.41). CONCLUSION Benefit of reperfusion was not modified by baseline ASPECTS. Patients in all ASPECTS subgroups showed benefit of reperfusion. These findings do not support withholding EVT on the basis of low ASPECTS only.