Thrombectomy in ischemic stroke patients with tandem occlusion in the posterior versus anterior circulation.

Background: Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) was found to be beneficial in acute ischemic stroke patients with anterior tandem occlusion (a-TO). Instead, little is known about the effectiveness of MT in stroke patients with posterior tandem occlusion (p-TO). We aimed to compare MT within 24 h from last known well time in ischemic stroke patients with p-TO versus a-TO.

Variants of the circle of Willis in ischemic stroke patients.

Purpose: We aim to provide prevalence and pattern of anatomical variants of circle of Willis in over one thousand ischemic stroke patients compared to an age- and sex-matched control group, and to determine their role in the severity and in-hospital prognosis.

Methods: Two groups of neuroradiologists evaluated all vascular images of ischemic stroke patients and controls to identify anatomical variants using a preexisted classification. We collected data concerning patient characteristics, stroke severity on admission and discharge, in-hospital mortality, hemorrhagic transformation, acute treatment performed, and etiology.