Contributing countries, centers and center coordinators

Objective: To test the hypothesis that intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) treatment prior to endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) is associated with better outcomes in patients with anterior circulation large artery occlusion (LAO) stroke, we examined a large real-world database, the SITS-International Stroke Thrombectomy Register (SITS-ISTR). Methods: We identified centers recording ³10 consecutive patients in the SITS-ISTR, with at least 70% available modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores at 3 months during 2014-19. We defined LAO as intracranial internal carotid artery, first and second segment of middle cerebral artery and first segment of anterior cerebral artery. Main outcomes were functional independence (mRS 0-2) and death at 3 months and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (SICH) per modified SITS-MOST. We performed propensity score matched (PSM) and multivariable logistic regression analyses. Results: Of 6350 patients from 42 centers, 3944 (62.1%) received IVT. IVT+EVT treated patients had less frequent atrial fibrillation, ongoing anticoagulation, previous stroke, heart failure and pre-stroke disability. PSM analysis showed that IVT+EVT patients had a higher rate of functional independence than EVT alone patients (46.4% vs. 40.3%, p