Table 1
Experimental data of patients qualified for the study, which include CT, histological, clinical and procedure parameters
| occl | nor | diff | diff [%] | occl | nor | diff | diff [%] | L [mm] | RBC [%] | strt | end | diff | strt | end | diff | Rd [min] | # pass | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 29.1 | 32.4 | -3.3 | -11.4 | 4.20 | 4.42 | -0.22 | -5.0 | 20.8 | 11.5 | AT | / | 21 | 1 | 20 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 42 | 1 |
| 2. | 42.0 | 29.2 | 12.8 | 30.5 | 4.58 | 8.98 | -4.40 | -96.3 | 16.3 | 45.1 | CE | / | 17 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 62 | 2 |
| 3. | 38.5 | 35.1 | 3.4 | 8.9 | 3.56 | 2.75 | 0.80 | 22.6 | 17.0 | 12.0 | CE | / | 23 | 7 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 65 | 1 |
| 4. | 36.9 | 34.3 | 2.5 | 6.8 | 11.66 | 4.58 | 7.08 | 60.7 | 17.5 | 41.4 | CE | AA | 18 | 3 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 77 | 1 |
| 5. | 43.7 | 44.2 | -0.5 | -1.2 | 3.55 | 3.86 | -0.31 | -8.7 | 17.9 | 65.9 | AT | / | 26 | 6 | 20 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 97 | 3 |
| 6. | 35.8 | 30.0 | 5.9 | 16.4 | 4.17 | 2.23 | 1.95 | 46.7 | 16.3 | 61.0 | CE | / | 7 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 38 | 3 |
| 7. | 31.8 | 36.0 | -4.2 | -13.2 | 2.77 | 3.26 | -0.49 | -17.8 | 22.2 | 57.3 | AT | / | 13 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 90 | 1 |
| 8. | 37.8 | 38.9 | -1.1 | -2.9 | 2.82 | 4.45 | -1.63 | -58.0 | 26.9 | 50.3 | CE | / | 14 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 77 | 1 |
| 9. | 32.0 | 24.0 | 8.1 | 25.1 | 9.50 | 4.90 | 4.60 | 48.4 | 22.7 | 56.3 | CE | ACAA | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 115 | 2 |
| 10. | 38.5 | 36.5 | 2.0 | 5.1 | 3.20 | 2.80 | 0.40 | 12.5 | 19.7 | 52.4 | CE | / | 26 | 42 | -16 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 82 | 4 |
| 11. | 38.3 | 39.4 | -1.1 | -2.8 | 5.49 | 3.66 | 1.83 | 33.4 | 17.1 | 19.1 | AT | / | 12 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 60 | 1 |
| 12. | 35.7 | 33.9 | 1.7 | 4.9 | 3.56 | 5.39 | -1.83 | -51.2 | 13.9 | 31.8 | CE | AA | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 69 | 1 |
| 13. | 44.3 | 31.9 | 12.3 | 27.8 | 4.66 | 5.11 | -0.46 | -9.8 | 22.5 | 74.7 | AT | / | 19 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 108 | 2 |
| 14. | 44.1 | 37.5 | 6.6 | 15.0 | 2.60 | 3.92 | -1.32 | -50.9 | 19.3 | 38.9 | CE | / | 18 | 20 | -2 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 63 | 5 |
| 15. | 36.0 | 35.4 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 3.48 | 2.67 | 0.81 | 23.4 | 17.9 | 48.8 | CE | / | 42 | 42 | 0 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 75 | 2 |
| 16. | 38.1 | 36.4 | 1.7 | 4.5 | 4.16 | 5.45 | -1.30 | -31.2 | 18.6 | 21.3 | AT | / | 15 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 77 | 1 |
| 17. | 42.5 | 40.7 | 1.8 | 4.2 | 3.11 | 3.74 | -0.63 | -20.4 | 13.5 | 14.8 | CE | AA | 14 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 53 | 1 |
| 18. | 38.7 | 23.3 | 15.4 | 39.8 | 5.66 | 4.79 | 0.87 | 15.3 | 19.1 | 42.4 | CE | AC | 22 | 3 | 19 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 43 | 1 |
| 19. | 34.7 | 30.9 | 3.8 | 11.0 | 5.61 | 4.43 | 1.18 | 21.1 | 20.9 | 37.7 | AT | / | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 60 | 1 |
| 20. | 41.2 | 32.4 | 8.8 | 21.4 | 5.14 | 4.58 | 0.56 | 10.9 | 19.3 | 56.0 | AT | AC | 11 | 40 | -29 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 76 | 3 |
| 21. | 37.2 | 28.5 | 8.7 | 23.5 | 3.29 | 5.27 | -1.99 | -60.4 | 29.2 | 79.1 | AT | / | 19 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 61 | 1 |
| 22. | 35.2 | 32.5 | 2.6 | 7.5 | 3.02 | 2.79 | 0.24 | 7.9 | 13.6 | 9.3 | CE | / | 16 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 95 | 3 |
| 23. | 41.5 | 34.5 | 6.9 | 16.7 | 5.14 | 4.47 | 0.67 | 13.0 | 21.5 | 80.4 | AT | / | 16 | 3 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 65 | 2 |
| 24. | 28.9 | 23.2 | 5.6 | 19.5 | 3.52 | 4.72 | -1.20 | -34.1 | 12.1 | 57.1 | CE | / | 13 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 55 | 1 |
| 25. | 40.2 | 33.4 | 6.8 | 17.0 | 2.91 | 4.30 | -1.39 | -47.8 | 18.7 | 46.8 | AT | AA | 42 | 42 | 0 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 90 | 4 |
[i] AA = antiaggregation; AC = anticoagulant; ACAA = both types of drugs; AT = atherothrombotic; CE = cardioembolic; diff = absolute difference; diff [%] = relative difference in %; HU avg = average Hounsfield units; HU var = variability of Hounsfield units; L [mm] = CT length of the thrombi; mRS = modified Rankin score; NIHSS = NIH Stroke Scale; nor = normal artery; occl = occlusion; RBC [%] = percentage of red blood cells in the thrombi; Rd = duration of mechanical recanalization; # pass = number of passes
Figure 1
Light microscopy images of histological slices along representative retrieved cerebral thrombi. The histological slices were stained by hematoxylin-eosin and then analyzed for the RBS proportion. It can be seen from the images that the structural and compositional diversity among cerebral thrombi is high. All retrieved thrombi had a distinctly heterogeneous, laminated (multilayer) structure which involves the interweaving of compacted erythrocyte-rich (red) regions with thinner (pink) coatings containing a combination of complementary-linked platelets and a fibrin network.
Figure 2
CT image of a patient with stroke (A). In the selected slice, Middle Cerebral Artery (MCA) on both hemispheres of the brain is visible. The occluded MCA section on the right hemisphere and its symmetrical normal MCA section is indicated by a yellow line along the cerebral thrombus. Graphs show Hounsfield Units (HU) value profiles of the CT image along the lines for the occluded (B) and the normal (C) MCA segment.
Figure 3
Graphs of correlation among different data groups. Shown are six graphs of data group pairs from Table 2 that have the highest Pearson coefficients and also statistically most significant linear regression parameters.
Table 2
Linear regression and Pearson correlation coefficient analysis of data group pairs with statistically most significant correlations and linear regression parameters
| Data group pair | Linear regression y = k· x + n | Pearson coefficient | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| x-values | y-values | k | p-value | R2 | ρ |
| HU avg occl | mRS end | 0.227 ± 0.086 | 0.015 | 0.233 | 0.483 |
| HU avg occl | # passes | 0.119 ± 0.052 | 0.031 | 0.186 | 0.432 |
| HU avg occl | mRS diff | -0.140 ± 0.067 | 0.049 | 0.158 | -0.398 |
| HU avg diff | RBC [%] | 1.646 ± 0.809 | 0.053 | 0.153 | 0.391 |
| HU avg occl | mRS start | 0.087 ± 0.045 | 0.065 | 0.140 | 0.374 |
| HU avg diff | mRS diff | -0.104 ± 0.059 | 0.093 | 0.118 | -0.343 |