Mechanical thrombectomy and the 'weekend effect': does admission time influence outcomes?

In acute ischaemic stroke, ‘time is brain’, with 1.9 million neurones lost for every minute of untreated ischaemia, leading to death or disability.1 Recanalisation through mechanical thrombectomy has been shown to greatly improve outcomes in patients with large vessel occlusion.2 In the UK, few centres offer a 24/7 or out-of-hours thrombectomy service; however, many centres are planning on increasing their operating hours. For many conditions, there is strong evidence that treatment outside normal working hours results in poorer outcomes.3 This ‘weekend effect’ impacts the outcomes for many …