Retriever first embolectomy (ReFirE): An alternative approach for challenging cervical access

After endovascular treatment became the standard of care procedure for acute ischaemic stroke with large artery occlusion in 2015 the number of performed interventions has increased dramatically. Especially because age is no exclusion criterion for endovascular treatment, a relevant number of patients with difficult to access carotid arteries has to be treated. In these patients a direct puncture of the carotid is a valuable tool but is associated with severe complications and an initial learning curve. We therefore developed the so called retriever first embolectomy (ReFirE) technique in which a stentretriever is deployed over a 5F diagnostic catheter and a microcatheter to establish a stable anchor prior to accessing the internal carotid artery/intracranial vasculature with an 8F guide catheter and a 5F/6F intermediate catheter. We hereby report the first case in which we performed a thrombectomy applying our novel technique.