Endovascular thrombectomy versus medical management for patients with large vessel stroke and infective endocarditis

Background The safety and efficacy of endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) for large vessel occlusion (LVO) strokes associated with infective endocarditis (IE) compared with medical management (MM) is unclear. Methods In this nationwide analysis of hospitalizations in the United States, we assessed the outcomes of EVT versus medical management (MM) for patients with LVO and IE. Primary outcome was routine home discharge with self-care. Secondary outcomes include home discharge, in-hospital mortality, intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to adjust for confounders. Additional multivariable adjustments were performed for doubly robust analyses. Results 2574 patients were identified; 656 (25.5%) received EVT. After PSM, the rate of routine discharge was significantly higher for patients with EVT compared with MM (14.6% vs 8.5%, p=0.021), and patients with EVT had significantly higher rate of home discharge (34.5% vs 26.5%, p=0.041), lower rate of in-hospital death (14.8% vs 25.2%, p=0.002), and lower rate of ICH (15.8% vs 23.1%, p=0.039). EVT was not associated with a different rate of SAH compared with MM (11.2% vs 7.9%, p=0.17). These associations remained unchanged with additional multivariable adjustments. Conclusion For patients with LVO stroke and IE, EVT was associated with significantly higher odds of favorable hospitalization outcomes and lower odds of ICH compared with MM.