title: Intracranial thrombectomy using the Solitaire stent: a historical vignette.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The endovascular treatment of acute ischemic stroke has been revolutionized in the past years by the introduction of new devices for mechanical thrombectomy. Several tools were already available in 2008. The majority allowed the recanalization of acutely occluded intracranial arteries with acceptable levels of safety and efficacy, and with occasional failures.
  
  
  METHODS
  On 3 March 2008, a 67-year-old woman was treated 3.5 h after the clinical onset of a right hemispheric stroke due to an embolic middle cerebral artery (MCA) M1 occlusion. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score prior to treatment was 10. Mechanical thrombectomy with a microbrush yielded a significant amount of thrombotic material without recanalization. Given the urgency of the situation, the uncertain outcome in the case of a persistent occlusion of the right M1 segment and the fact that no other device was available, a Solitaire stent was deployed within the occluded right M1 segment. After several minutes of incubation, the expanded stent was slowly withdrawn under continuous aspiration with instantaneous removal of the entire thrombus and complete recanalization of the right MCA with reperfusion of the whole MCA supply territory. Digital subtraction angiography showed neither peripheral emboli nor vasospasm. The patient made a complete clinical recovery with an NIHSS score of 0 at the 30 day follow-up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Solitaire stent was initially developed for the endovascular treatment of wide necked intracranial aneurysms but has been demonstrated to be safe and efficacious for intracranial thrombectomy. This was the first successful human clinical use of a Solitaire stent for this purpose and the ignition spark for the development of a whole generation of new devices, now called stent retrievers.
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Neuroradiologie, Katharinenhospital, Klinikum Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Marta Aguilar
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.forename: Elina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Miloslavski
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Hansjörg
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bäzner
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Henkes
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000601:surgery*; D002548:Cerebral Revascularization / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D015607:Stents; D017131:Thrombectomy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*