The trial’s primary endpoint results showed that although final infarct volume was smaller in the GA group, the difference in the volume of infarct growth 48-72 hours after symptom onset among patients treated under GA or CS did not reach statistical significance (median [IQR] growth, 8.2 [2.2-38.6] mL vs. 19.4 [2.4-79.0] mL; P = .10).
“Assuming a normal distribution, the mean infarct growth for CS was 57.4 mL and for GA was 34.1 mL (difference, 23.2 mL; 95% CI, –6.4 to 52.9),” the research team noted.
A higher rate of successful reperfusion in the GA arm appeared to reflect its better clinical outcomes. Successful reperfusion occurred in 76.9% of GA patients, compared with 60.3% of CS patients (P = .04).
There were no clinically meaningful differences in safety endpoints between the two arms. Four patients (6.3%) in the CS group were converted to GA.