title: One-year MR angiographic and clinical follow-up after intracranial mechanical thrombectomy using a stent retriever device.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Little is known about the consequences of arterial wall damage that may be due to mechanical endovascular thrombectomy. Our aim was to perform 1-year MR angiographic and clinical follow-up of patients treated with mechanical endovascular thrombectomy using the Solitaire device.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with stroke treated between August 2010 and July 2012 were prospectively evaluated with a minimum follow-up of 1 year after mechanical endovascular thrombectomy. Angiographic follow-up was performed on a 3T MR imaging scanner and included intracranial artery TOF MRA and supra-aortic artery gadolinium-enhanced MRA. Images were assessed to detect arterial abnormalities (stenosis, occlusion, dilation) and were compared with the final post-mechanical endovascular thrombectomy run to differentiate delayed and pre-existing abnormalities. Clinical evaluation was performed with the mRS and the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey questionnaire quality-of-life scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-nine patients were angiographically assessed at the mean term of 19 ± 4 months. MRA showed intracranial artery abnormalities in 10 patients, including 5 delayed intracranial artery abnormalities in 4 patients (4 stenoses and 1 dilation), 4 cases of pre-existing intracranial artery stenosis, and 2 occlusions. Pre-existing etiologic cervical artery stenosis or occlusion was observed in 2 patients. All these patients remained asymptomatic during the follow-up period. A significant clinical improvement was observed at 1-year follow-up in comparison with 3-month follow-up (P < .0001), with a good outcome achieved in 62.5% of patients and an acceptable quality of life restored.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  One-year follow-up identifies delayed asymptomatic arterial abnormalities in patients treated with the Solitaire device.
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Neuroradiology (F.E., J.-Y.G., J.-C.F., H.R.).
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Eugène
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Neuroradiology (F.E., J.-Y.G., J.-C.F., H.R.).
authors.forename: J-Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Gauvrit
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Neuroradiology (F.E., J.-Y.G., J.-C.F., H.R.).
authors.forename: J-C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Ferré
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroradiology (J.-C.G.), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Brest, France.
authors.forename: J-C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Gentric
authors.affiliation: Clinical Pharmacology (A.B.).
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Besseghir
authors.affiliation: Neurology (T.R.), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ronzière
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Neuroradiology (F.E., J.-Y.G., J.-C.F., H.R.) helene.raoult@chu-rennes.fr.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Raoult
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D020521:Stroke / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D017131:Thrombectomy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome