Letter to the editor entitled “Basilar artery occlusion and unwarranted clinical trials” was submitted from Drs. Kaijser and Holmin of Karolinska University Hospital.1 They argued scientific and ethical issues on the clinical trials of the endovascular treatment (EVT) for the acute basilar artery occlusion. Today, it is our upcoming interests whether EVT is a treatment of choice for acute ischemic stroke due to large vessel occlusion in the posterior circulation after the smash successes of clinical trials of EVT in the anterior circulation.
I have invited the principal investigators (PIs) of three clinical trials, i.e., BASICS,2 BEST3 and BAOCHE4 trials, and the PIs of these trials kindly accepted my proposal to respond to the above letter to the editor.
I hope the letter to the editor and rebuttal letter5 will provide a good opportunity to consider the indication of EVT for acute ischemic stroke due to large vessel occlusion in the posterior circulation.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
References
- 1.Kaijser M and Holmin S. Basilar artery occlusion and unwarranted clinical trials (letter). Interv Neuroradiol (in press). [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- 2.Schonewille WJ, Wijman CA, Michel P, et al. BASICS study group. Treatment and outcomes of acute basilar artery occlusion in the Basilar Artery International Cooperation Study (BASICS): a prospective registry study. Lancet Neurol 2009; 8: 724–730. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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- 4.Basilar Artery Occlusion Chinese Endovascular Trial, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02737189 (accessed 31 July 2019).
- 5.Schonewille WJ, Liu X, Nogueira RG, et al. Response to letter to the editor: basilar artery occlusion and unwarranted clinical trials. Interv Neuroradiol (in press). [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]