Blood Pressure Variability and Neurologic Outcome After Endovascular Thrombectomy

Background and Purpose— Although higher blood pressure variability (BPV) is associated with worse functional outcome after stroke, this association is not as well established in large vessel occlusion strokes treated with endovascular treatment (EVT). Methods— In this post hoc analysis of BEST (Blood Pressure after Endovascular Therapy for Ischemic Stroke), a prospective, multicenter cohort study of anterior circulation acute ischemic stroke patients undergoing EVT, we determined the association of BPV with poor outcome or death (90-day modified Rankin Scale, 3–6). We calculated BPV during the first 24 hours after EVT for systolic and diastolic BP using 5 methodologies, then divided BPV into tertiles and compared the highest to lowest tertile using logistic regression. Results— Of the 443 patients included in our analysis, 259 (58.5%) had a poor outcome, and 79 (17.8%) died. All measures of BPV were significantly higher in patients with poor outcome or death, but the difference was more pronounced for systolic than diastolic BPV. In the logistic regression, the highest tertile of systolic BPV consistently predicted poor outcome (odds ratio, 1.8–3.5, all P <0.05). The rate of death within 90 days was 10.1% in the tertile with the lowest systolic BPV versus 25.2% in the tertile with the highest BPV ( P <0.001). Conclusions— In EVT-treated stroke patients, higher BPV in the first 24 hours is associated with worse 90-day outcome. This association was more robust for systolic BPV. The mechanism by which BPV may exert a negative influence on neurological outcome remains unknown, but the consistency of this association warrants further investigation and potentially intervention.