What role did intra-arterial fibrinolytic therapy play in the endovascular trials?
Intra-arterial fibrinolytic therapy played a limited role in the recent endovascular trials but was used as rescue therapy, not initial treatment. In MR CLEAN, the EVT method was at the discretion of operator, with 40 of 233 treated with alternative stent retrievers to Trevo and Solitaire or intra-arterial alteplase. Details are not available, but no patients were treated with intra-arterial alteplase alone. Twenty-four of 233 (10.3%) had treatment with a second modality. Treatment method had no impact on outcomes in this trial. In THRACE, an intra-arterial lytic was used to a maximum dose of 0.3 mg/kg and allowed to establish goal reperfusion, only after mechanical thrombectomy was attempted. A mean dose of 8.8 mg was administered in 15 of 141 patients receiving mechanical thrombectomy (11%). There was no effect on outcomes compared with mechanical thrombectomy alone.