Scientific societies aim to further improve stroke therapy in all of Europe.
The new European guidelines on mechanical thrombectomy for the treatment of stroke patients with large vessel occlusions have been published today in parallel in the Journal of Neurointerventional Surgery, the official journal of the European Society of Minimally Invasive Neurological Therapy (ESMINT) and in the European Stroke Journal, the official journal of the European Stroke Organisation (ESO).
“We hope that these guidelines will further improve therapy for patients with a severe stroke in all of Europe.” says Prof. Dr. Jens Fiehler, senior author of the guidelines, General Secretary of ESMINT and Director of the Department of Neuroradiology in Hamburg, Germany. “These Guidelines were developed following the advanced Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Eleven experts from both societies jointly followed this pre-defined standardized process and generated fifteen highly standardized questions and specific meta-analyses of the scientific literature to ensure highest possible degree of objectivity.”
Based on the quality of the scientific evidence, the committee was able to make weak or strong recommendations for different patient groups and different therapy approaches. An expert opinion was provided whenever not enough evidence was available to provide recommendations based on the GRADE approach.