Ventilation time and prognosis after stroke thrombectomy: the shorter, the better!

Background and purpose: The aim was to investigate the clinical impact of the duration of artificial ventilation in stroke patients receiving mechanical thrombectomy (MT) under general anaesthesia.

Methods: All consecutive ischaemic stroke patients who had been treated at our centre with MT for anterior circulation large vessel occlusion under general anaesthesia were identified over an 8-year period. Ventilation time was analysed as a continuous variable and patients were grouped into extubation within 6 h ('early'), 6-24 h ('delayed') and >24 h ('late'). Favourable outcome was defined as modified Rankin Scale scores of 0-2 at 3 months post-stroke. Pneumonia rate and reasons for prolonged ventilation were also assessed.

Results: Amongst 447 MT patients (mean age 69.1 ± 13.3 years, 50.1% female), the median ventilation time was 3 h. 188 (42.6%) patients had a favourable 3-month outcome, which correlated with shorter ventilation time (Spearman's rho 0.39, P < 0.001). In patients extubated within 24 h, early compared to delayed extubation was associated with improved outcome (odds ratio 2.40, 95% confidence interval 1.53-3.76, P < 0.001). This was confirmed in multivariable analysis (P = 0.01). A longer ventilation time was associated with a higher rate of pneumonia during neurointensive care unit/stroke unit stay (early/delayed/late extubation: 9.6%/20.6%/27.7%, P < 0.01). Whilst stroke-associated complications represented the most common reasons for late extubation (>24 h), delayed extubation (6-24 h) was associated with admission outside of core working hours (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Prolonged ventilation time after stroke thrombectomy independently predicts unfavourable outcome at 3 months and is associated with increased pneumonia rates. Therefore, extubation should be performed as early as safely possible.