Endovascular Treatment plus Medical Treatment versus Medical Treatment Alone in Ischemic Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Introduction: This study was conducted to assess the hypothesis that endovascular treatment in addition to medical treatment improve stroke mortality and post-stroke disability.

Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, the studies were included if they were randomized controlled trials in design and compared between endovascular treatment and medical therapy versus medical therapy alone in stroke management.

Results: The search yielded 22 articles that included 5,049 patients. The analysis showed significant association between the intervention and reduction in disability measured by Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) (mRS = 0-2) (odds ratio [OR] = 1.61; 95% confidence intervals [95% CI]: 1.27-2.06) and National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) (NIHSS = 0-15) (OR = 2.13; 95% CI: 1.04-4.34). Also, we found a significant difference in disability scores between the intervention and the medical therapy group (mRS weighted mean difference [WMD] = -0.59; 95% CI: -1.15 to -0.02, NIHSS WMD = -4.52; 95% CI: -6.32 to -2.72). Additionally, there was significant reduction in mortality in the intervention group (OR = 0.79; 95% CI: 0.68-0.92). There was no significant difference in the rate of any serious adverse effects between the two study groups except for asymptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage.

Conclusion: Our study provides strong evidence stemmed from randomized clinical trials that endovascular treatment combined with medical therapy is superior to medical therapy alone in the management of stroke.