Thrombus histology does not predict stroke etiological subtype but influences recanalization

There is conflicting data on whether clot retrieved from mechanical thrombectomy can predict stroke etiology or the success of recanalization. We aimed to analyse the relation between thrombus histology and stroke aetiology as well as recanalization.

Histopathological analysis of clots retrieved from patients with acute ischemic stroke and large vessel occlusion was done. Quantification of the amount of fibrin, red blood cells(RBC), platelets and white blood cells (WBC) in the clots were done. The clinical, imaging data and recanalization parameters were collected. The correlation between clot composition and stroke etiology as well as recanalization were analysed.

Of the 77 patients, the mean age was 58. 67 ± 12.96 years. The stroke etiology were cardioembolism 44(57.1 %), large artery atherosclerosis 13(16.8 %), other determined aetiology 4(5.1 %) and undetermined in 16(20.7 %) patients. There was no significant correlation between the proportions of RBC-rich, platelet-rich and fibrin-rich thrombi and the stroke etiology. The susceptibility vessel sign was associated with RBC-rich clot(92.3 % vs 7.7 %, p = .03). All RBC-rich clots(100 %) had good recanalization(p = .05). Platelet-rich clots needed less number of passes(64.7 % vs 35.3 %, p = .006) and reduced groin puncture to recanalization time(87.9 % vs 12.1 %, p = .033). WBC-rich clots required lesser number of passes(57.5 % vs 42.5 %, P = .044). In multivariate analysis, WBC-rich clots (OR 0.230, CI 0.07-0.78, p = .018) showed an independent association with reduced recanalization attempts, while platelet-rich clots showed reduced recanalization time(OR 0.09, CI 0.01-0.63, p = .016).

There was no correlation between thrombus histology and the etiological stroke subtype. However, clot composition predicted the degree of recanalization and number of passes.