Core Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption in Patients With Large Vessel Occlusion

BACKGROUND: Multimodal imaging has expanded treatment for patients with acute ischemic stroke with large vessel occlusion. Blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption measured in the ischemic core is associated with hemorrhagic transformation. However, the associations between core BBB disruption (cBBBD) and baseline clinical/imaging variables, as well as 3-month outcome, have not been explored. METHODS: This is a retrospective multicenter analysis of consecutive anterior circulation patients with acute ischemic stroke with large vessel occlusion, presenting over a 4-year time period, who were transferred from a primary to a comprehensive stroke center for possible endovascular therapy, with magnetic resonance imaging that included perfusion-weighted imaging before transfer. Magnetic resonance imaging scans were processed using RAPID software to generate penumbral imaging variables. Perfusion-weighted images were processed to detect and quantify contrast leakage; cBBBD was calculated as the average of all leaky voxels in the ischemic core. Poor functional outcome was defined as a modified Rankin Scale score of >2 at 3 months. Linear regression was used except for the outcome, which used logistic regression, controlling for age, stroke severity, and baseline functional status. RESULTS: =0.019; n=279), indicating that for every 1% increase in cBBBD, the odds of having a poor functional outcome increase by 16%. CONCLUSIONS: In acute ischemic stroke with large vessel occlusion, disruption of the BBB in the core lesion is independently associated with clinical outcome. cBBBD represents a new imaging profile for acute stroke that may help guide treatments.