By: Brian Drumm (London, UK), Soma Banerjee (London, UK), and Thanh Nguyen (Boston, USA)

Basilar artery occlusion stroke is one of the most devastating clinical stroke syndromes.(Salerno et al. 2021). Optimal management of basilar artery occlusion remains one of the unanswered questions in stroke medicine.(Nguyen and Strbian 2021). The controversy of basilar artery occlusion treatment was fueled by the recent publications of the BASICS and BEST randomized clinical trials, (Langezaal et al. 2021; Liu et al. 2020), neither of which established superiority of endovascular therapy (EVT) compared to medical management (MM).

Have the BASICS or BEST trials changed your approach to the management of basilar artery occlusion? Do you think another basilar artery occlusion randomized trial other than ongoing trials in China is warranted (BAOCHE and ATTENTION)?(Li et al. 2021; Tao et al. 2022).

A few members from the European Stroke Organization, the Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology (SVIN) have organized an individual survey on this topic. The ABBA (After the BEST of BASICS) study group ESO members includes Brian Drumm, Soma Banerjee, Wouter Schonewille, Urs Fischer, Daniel Strbian, Volker Puetz, Simon Nagel, Simona Sacco, Anna Czlonkowska, Espen Saxhaug Kristoffersen, Robert Mikulik, Jelle Demeestere and Thanh Nguyen.

If you would like to contribute with your expert opinion, please complete the survey. This takes 5 to 8 minutes.

Many thanks to colleagues who have already participated, and to our ESO colleagues who are about to participate. The tentative deadline for survey completion is 11 March.

 

REFERENCES

Langezaal, Lucianne C. M., Erik J. R. J. van der Hoeven, Francisco J. A. Mont’Alverne, João J. F. de Carvalho, Fabrício O. Lima, Diederik W. J. Dippel, Aad van der Lugt, et al. 2021. “Endovascular Therapy for Stroke Due to Basilar-Artery Occlusion.” The New England Journal of Medicine 384 (20): 1910–20.<http://paperpile.com/b/vPgAY6/naFC<http://paperpile.com/b/vPgAY6/naFC>>

Li, Chuanhui, Chuanjie Wu, Longfei Wu, Wenbo Zhao, Jian Chen, Ming Ren, Chen Yao, et al. 2021. “Basilar Artery Occlusion Chinese Endovascular Trial: Protocol for a Prospective Randomized Controlled Study.” International Journal of Stroke: Official Journal of the International Stroke Society, August, 17474930211040923.<http://paperpile.com/b/vPgAY6/UMpZ<http://paperpile.com/b/vPgAY6/UMpZ>>

Liu, Xinfeng, Qiliang Dai, Ruidong Ye, Wenjie Zi, Yuxiu Liu, Huaiming Wang, Wusheng Zhu, et al. 2020. “Endovascular Treatment versus Standard Medical Treatment for Vertebrobasilar Artery Occlusion (BEST): An Open-Label, Randomised Controlled Trial.” Lancet Neurology 19 (2): 115–22.<http://paperpile.com/b/vPgAY6/yCWi<http://paperpile.com/b/vPgAY6/yCWi>>

Nguyen, Thanh N., and Daniel Strbian. 2021. “Endovascular Therapy for Stroke due to Basilar Artery Occlusion: A BASIC Challenge at BEST.” Stroke; a Journal of Cerebral Circulation 52 (10): 3410–13.<http://paperpile.com/b/vPgAY6/aXdY<http://paperpile.com/b/vPgAY6/aXdY>>

Salerno, Alexander, Davide Strambo, Stefania Nannoni, Vincent Dunet, and Patrik Michel. 2021. “Patterns of Ischemic Posterior Circulation Strokes: A Clinical, Anatomical, and Radiological Review.” International Journal of Stroke: Official Journal of the International Stroke Society, September, 17474930211046758.<http://paperpile.com/b/vPgAY6/fcXW<http://paperpile.com/b/vPgAY6/fcXW>>

Tao, Chunrong, Rui Li, Yuyou Zhu, Sen Qun, Pengfei Xu, Li Wang, Chao Zhang, et al. 2022. “Endovascular Treatment for Acute Basilar Artery Occlusion – a Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial (ATTENTION).” International Journal of Stroke: Official Journal of the International Stroke Society, February, 17474930221077164.<http://paperpile.com/b/vPgAY6/RSDP<http://paperpile.com/b/vPgAY6/RSDP>>