Background and Purpose: Optimal blood pressure (BP) targets after endovascular therapy (EVT) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) still need to be assessed, especially according to the recanalization status. Facing the lack of randomized controlled trials addressing this question, we performed a systematic review of studies assessing the post-EVT BP impact on functional outcome and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH). Methods: Studies published after January 1, 2012 were included in the systematic review. The PRISMA checklist and flow diagram were followed for the design and reporting of this work. Results: Five studies were included in the present analysis. Despite a significant heterogeneity among studies which precluded a meta-analysis, systolic BP (SBP) was the most frequently used parameter to describe BP. BP variability (standard deviation, successive variability) after EVT was associated with worse functional outcome, especially in studies without specific BP targets after successful EVT. Lower BP values after successful EVT were associated with lower odds of sICH. Four studies evaluated the post-EVT BP impact on recanalized patients solely, with only one specifically addressing the impact of a TICI 2B vs. 2C. Interestingly, SBP reduction was inversely associated with worse outcomes in TICI 3 patients but not in TICI 2B patients, pointing to the potential value of BP management according to the exact TICI. Conclusions: BP post-EVT seems to be associated with worse functional outcomes and sICH. However, given the important heterogeneity depicted among the included studies, no decisive conclusion can be made from this systematic review, thus underlying the urgent need of randomized controlled trials evaluating this question.

Objective: Mechanical retrieval of thrombotic material from acute ischemic stroke patients provides a unique entry point for translational research investigations. Here, we resolved the proteomes of cardioembolic and atherothrombotic cerebrovascular human thrombi and applied an artificial intelligence routine to examine protein signatures between the two selected groups. Methods: We specifically used n = 32 cardioembolic and n = 28 atherothrombotic diagnosed thrombi from patients suffering from acute stroke and treated by mechanical thrombectomy. Thrombi proteins were successfully separated by gel-electrophoresis. For each thrombi, peptide samples were analyzed by nano-flow liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (nano-LC-MS/MS) to obtain specific proteomes. Relative protein quantification was performed using a label-free LFQ algorithm and all dataset were analyzed using a support-vector-machine (SVM) learning method. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD020398. Clinical data were also analyzed using SVM, alone or in combination with the proteomes. Results: A total of 2,455 proteins were identified by nano-LC-MS/MS in the samples analyzed, with 438 proteins constantly detected in all samples. SVM analysis of LFQ proteomic data delivered combinations of three proteins achieving a maximum of 88.3% for correct classification of the cardioembolic and atherothrombotic samples in our cohort. The coagulation factor XIII appeared in all of the SVM protein trios, associating with cardioembolic thrombi. A combined SVM analysis of the LFQ proteome and clinical data did not deliver a better discriminatory score as compared to the proteome only. Conclusion: Our results advance the portrayal of the human cerebrovascular thrombi proteome. The exploratory SVM analysis outlined sets of proteins for a proof-of-principle characterization of our cohort cardioembolic and atherothrombotic samples. The integrated analysis proposed herein could be further developed and retested on a larger patients population to better understand stroke origin and the associated cerebrovascular pathophysiology.