Intensive Versus Standard Blood Pressure Management after Endovascular Therapy for Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Prospective clinical studies on blood pressure (BP) management targets after endovascular therapy (EVT) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) have recently been published. Our objective was to assess the impact on clinical outcomes of BP management guided by established systolic BP (SBP) targets within the first 24 hours after successful EVT. Four randomized controlled trials (RCTs) including 1556 participants across 5 SBP target settings identified from 5 databases up to September 6, 2023 were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. All the intensive SBP target groups in these RCTs were combined to facilitate head-to-head comparisons. Patients receiving intensive SBP management had lower risk of 90-day functional independence as assessed by the modified Rankin scale score (relative risk [RR], 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72 to 0.91; I 2 , 12%), excellent outcomes (RR,0.86; 95% CI, 0.75 to 0.99; I 2 , 7%), favorable outcomes (RR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.92; I 2 , 0%), and quality of life (standardized mean difference, -0.22; 95% CI, -0.35 to -0.10; I 2 ,0%). There were no differences in the probability of any intracerebral hemorrhage (RR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.92 to 1.19; I 2 ,0%), symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (RR, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.76 to 1.60; I 2 , 0%), stroke-related death (RR, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.80 to 1.68; I 2 , 0%), or parenchymal hematoma (RR, 1.71; 95% CI, 0.74 to 3.98; I 2 , 47%) between SBP targets. This meta-analysis provides evidence from RCTs suggesting that intensive SBP control (target<160 mm Hg) may be detrimental to clinical outcomes in AIS patients with successful reperfusion after EVT.