title: Recanalization of acute basilar artery occlusion improves outcomes: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Acute basilar artery occlusion (BAO) is a catastrophe with high mortality and disability. Randomized controlled trial (RCT) data supporting/refuting reperfusion treatment are sparse in acute BAO. The study objective was to pool risk estimates for death or dependency (DoD), mortality, and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) from published studies on BAO.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and clinicaltrials.gov were searched through August 2013 for studies of reperfusion therapies in acute BAO. Two independent authors selected studies and abstracted the data. Pooled risk ratios (RR) and mean weighted probabilities (MWP) were calculated using random effects model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  45 studies (n=2056) met the inclusion criteria. Recanalization was associated with a lower risk of DoD (RR 0.67; number needed to treat (NNT) 3) and mortality (RR 0.49; NNT 2.5). ICH rate (MWP) with acute therapies was 13%. With recanalization, RR for DoD in those treated ≤12 h was 0.63, and for those treated >12 h, it was 0.67. With recanalization, RR for DoD in the intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) subgroup was 0.68; in the intra-arterial/endovascular therapy (IA/EVT) subgroup, DoD RR was 0.67. Recanalization resulted in mortality RR of 0.46 in those treated ≤12 h; for >12 h group, RR was 0.50. Recanalization resulted in mortality RR of 0.53 in the IVT subgroup, and RR of 0.48 in the IA/EVT subgroup. ICH rate for ≤12 h was 10%; ICH rate for >12 h was 14%. With IVT, the ICH rate was 9%, and with IA/EVT the ICH rate was 14%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recanalization of acute BAO leads to reduction in mortality by two-fold and reduction in the risk of DoD by 1.5-fold. This study underscores the equipoise in acute BAO for comparing systemic and endovascular therapies, and testing different time windows through RCTs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Stroke Center, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
authors.forename: Gyanendra
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Stroke Center, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
authors.forename: Reza Bavarsad
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Shahripour
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Stroke Center, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, USA Department of Neurology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: Andrei V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Alexandrov
mesh_terms: D001488:Basilar Artery / Q000601:surgery*; D057510:Endovascular Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014715:Vertebrobasilar Insufficiency / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*
keywords: Artery; Intervention; Stroke; Thrombectomy; Thrombolysis