Intra-arterial Methylprednisolone After Endovascular Thrombectomy

The purpose of IMPACT-LVO trial is to investigate the efficacy and safety of early adjunctive intra-arterial combined with intravenous administration methylprednisolone sodium succinate after successful endovascular thrombectomy in anterior circulation large vessel occlusion patients.

This is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Acute ischemia stroke patients with anterior circulation large vessel occlusion within 24 hours from last known well will be screened for this trial. Successful recanalization after mechanical thrombectomy (eTICI 2b-3) patients will be randomized 1:1 to either methylprednisolone sodium succinate group or placebo group. The methylprednisolone sodium succinate group patients will receive intra-arterial methylprednisolone sodium succinate 40mg immediately after the recanalization. Then, intravenous administration with methylprednisolone sodium succinate 2mg/kg in the next 3 days. The placebo group patients will receive intra-arterial and intravenous sterile water for injection.

The shift on modified Rankin Scale score is designed to detect in the present trial. A sample size of n = 178 patients (n=89 per group) is required. The intention-to-treat principle will be applied to the primary analysis, therefore, to safeguard against dilution of the treatment effect associated with an approximate 15% non-adherence rate (due to loss to follow-up, consent withdrawal and other reasons), we planned to enrol n=210 patients (n=105 per group) for this study. The findings of IMPACT-LVO are likely to have a direct impact on clinical practice.