What is your approach to managing patients who initially present with symptomatic intracranial large vessel occlusion but subsequently experience resolution of symptoms or become non-disabling before any intervention?
Would your management be different if the LVO was found on imaging without preceding associated symptoms?
Answer from: at Community Practice
If a large vessel occlusion (LVO), such as ICA-terminus, M1, or Basilar, is present, I would treat it even if there has been a significant improvement in symptoms. As mentioned in the prior post, an occlusion in one of these areas will likely exhaust collateral reserves and become symptomatic again....
It’s a tough call and a highly individualized decision each time. No randomized trial adequately accounts for all the factors I consider: whether it’s presumed to be ICAD or an embolus, availability of a perfusion study, collateral flow on CTA, the technical feasibility of the procedure,...
Comments
at University of Minnesota First, do no harm. I'm much more conservative...
A lot of great answers.
If the patient is not clinically having symptoms, it is hard to justify putting the patient through a procedure that could worsen their neurological status.
If the patient has fluctuating symptoms, then the answer is likely to intervene (unable to respond to medical managem...