Elevated pulsatility index is associated with poor functional outcome in stroke patients treated with thrombectomy: A retrospective cohort study

Abstract

Aims: To evaluate pulsatility index (PI) in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) who underwent endovascular thrombectomy (EVT).

Methods: Patients were retrospectively recruited if their stroke were secondary to middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion and achieved full recanalization after EVT. Transcranial Doppler was performed within 24-hour post-EVT. The primary outcome was correlation between the MCA-PI on the affected side and 3-month functional outcome, with modified Rankin scale (mRS) ≥5 indicated extremely poor functional outcomes.

Results: Totally, 170 patients were included. High MCA-PI was positively related to the 3-month mRS score (r = 0.288, p < 0.001). The highest quartile of the MCA-PI was associated with a high incidence of extremely poor functional outcomes (adjusted OR, 13.33; 95% CI, 2.65-67.17; adjusted p = 0.002) after adjusting for confounding factors. The predictive capacity of the MCA-PI for extremely poor functional outcomes was good (area under the curve, 0.755; 95% CI, 0.655-0.854; p < 0.001), and its cutoff value for predicting extremely poor outcomes was 1.04, with a sensitivity of 65.6% and specificity of 78.3%.

Conclusion: The MCA-PI on the affected side is a prognostic biomarker in patients who have undergone stroke thrombectomy. An elevated MCA-PI may be prognostically valuable for predicting extremely poor functional outcomes.

Keywords: acute ischemic stroke; endovascular thrombectomy; microcirculation no-reperfusion; pulsatility index; “no-reflow” phenomenon.