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This is a retrospective analysis of 484 patients in a prospectively collected stroke data base. The inclusion criteria were anterior circulation ischemic stroke treated with mechanical thrombectomy at a single institution between September 2010 and October 2015 with an NIHSS score of ≤8. The purpose was to assess the clinical and interventional data in patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy in case of ischemic stroke with mild-to-moderate symptoms (n = 33). Recanalization (TICI 2b–3) was achieved in 26 (78.7%) patients. Two cases of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage occurred. Favorable (mRS 0–2) and moderate (mRS 0–3) clinical 90-day outcome was achieved in 63.6% and 90.9% of patients, respectively. The authors conclude that the clinical outcome of patients undergoing mechanical thrombectomy for acute ischemic mild stroke due to large-vessel occlusion is predominately favorable, even in a prolonged time window.

The authors evaluated multiple parameters of reduced-FOV DTI to optimize image quality. Fifteen healthy individuals underwent cervical spinal cord 3T MRI, including an anatomic 3D Multi-Echo Recombined Gradient Echo, high-resolution full-FOV DTI with a NEX of 3 and 20 diffusion gradient directions, and 5 sets of reduced-FOV DTIs differently balanced in terms of NEX/number of diffusion gradient directions. Qualitatively, reduced-FOV DTI sequences with a NEX of >5 were significantly better rated than the full-FOV DTI and the reduced-FOV DTI with low NEX (N=3) and a high number of diffusion gradient directions (D=20). Quantitatively, the best trade-off was reached by the reduced-FOV DTI with a NEX of 9 and 9 diffusion gradient directions. They conclude that the best compromise was obtained with a NEX of 9 and 9 diffusion gradient directions, which emphasizes the need for increasing the NEX at the expense of the number of diffusion gradient directions for spinal cord DTI, unlike brain imaging.