Real-World Treatment Trends in Endovascular Stroke Therapy

Background and Purpose— Recent landmark trials provided overwhelming evidence for effectiveness of endovascular stroke therapy (EST). Yet, the impact of these trials on clinical practice and effectiveness of EST among lower volume centers remains poorly characterized. Here, we determine population-level patterns in EST performance in US hospitals and compare EST outcomes from higher versus lower volume centers. Methods— Using validated diagnosis codes from data on all discharges from hospitals and Emergency Rooms in Florida (2006–2016) and the National Inpatient Sample (2012–2016) we identified patients with acute ischemic stroke treated with EST. The primary end point was good discharge outcome defined as discharge to home or acute rehabilitation facility. Multivariate regressions adjusted for medical comorbidities, intravenous tPA (tissue-type plasminogen activator) usage and annual hospital stroke volume were used to evaluate the likelihood of good outcome over time and by annual hospital EST volume. R...