The University of Cincinnati's Pooja Khatri spoke with Medscape on a new American Heart Association advisory recommending endovascular therapy (EVT) as a treatment for patients with large-core ischemic strokes.

The advisory was published Dec. 17 in the journal Stroke, and Khatri was a coauthor.

EVT is a minimally invasive procedure for acute ischemic stroke patients that uses a catheter to remove a clot from a blood vessel in the brain, which restores blood flow. Patients with strokes with a large ischemic core were previously not considered candidates for EVT because of concerns of an increased risk of hemorrhage, disability and death, but six recent trials provided evidence of its benefit.

“These trials provide new data to suggest that selected patients with ischemic stroke due to large vessel occlusions should be treated with EVT,” Khatri, MD, vice chair of research and division chief in the Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine at UC's College of Medicine; associate director of the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute; and codirector of NIH StrokeNet’s National Coordinating Center, told Medscape. 

“These findings ran counter to prior thinking and guidelines, so we wanted to bring this important treatment opportunity to the attention of practicing clinicians," she added.

Read the Medscape article.

Featured photo at top of illustration of brain with stroke symptoms. Photo/PeterSchreiber.media/iStock.