RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Balloon-assisted tracking technique to overcome intracranial stenosis during thrombectomy for stroke
JF BMJ Case Reports
JO BMJ Case Reports
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP e014275
DO 10.1136/bcr-2018-014275
VO 11
IS 1
A1 Burkhardt, Jan-Karl
A1 Shapiro, Maksim
A1 Tanweer, Omar
A1 Litao, Miguel
A1 Chancellor, Breehan
A1 Raz, Eytan
A1 Riina, Howard A
A1 Nelson, Peter Kim
YR 2018
UL http://casereports.bmj.com/content/11/1/e014275.abstract
AB Anatomical vessel obstacles such as an intracranial stenosis in stroke are challenging and may lead to delayed clot access for thrombectomy. We describe a simple and effective technique to overcome the step-off between the intermediate catheter and an intracranial vessel stenosis during thrombectomy. The patient presented with acute embolic left middle cerebral artery occlusion and a favorable penumbral pattern. Clot access was made challenging by focal stenosis in the ipsilateral cavernous segment. The balloon-assisted tracking technique was effective in traversing the step-off to enable TICI 3 aspiration thrombectomy. This simple and effective technique should be kept in mind during stroke procedures where a proximal stenotic obstacle complicates access to the site of occlusion.