REVASCAT Trial: Solitaire Thrombectomy Within 8 Hours
In patients with anterior circulation LVO presenting up to 8 hours from onset who were ineligible for or refractory to IV alteplase, does Solitaire stent-retriever thrombectomy added to medical therapy improve functional outcome at 90 days compared with medical therapy alone?
Jovin et al. (NEJM 2015) · doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1503780 · 206 patients
Population
Included
- Age 18 to 80 years (extended to 85 years during the trial)
- Acute ischemic stroke with proximal anterior circulation occlusion (intracranial ICA or M1 MCA)
- NIHSS of 6 or greater at the time of randomization
- Pre-stroke functional independence (mRS 0 or 1)
- Treatment feasible within 8 hours of symptom onset
- Absence of large infarct on imaging (ASPECTS 7 or greater on CT, or 6 or greater on diffusion MRI)
- Contraindication to IV alteplase, or failure of alteplase to recanalize after 30 minutes
- Acute ischemic stroke where patient is ineligible for IV thrombolytic treatment or the treatment is contraindicated, or where patient has received IV thrombolytic therapy without recanalization after a minimum of 30 min from start of iv tPA infusion
- No significant pre-stroke functional disability (mRS ≤ 1)
- Baseline NIHSS score obtained prior to randomization must be equal or higher than 6 points
- Age ≥18 and ≤ 85
- Occlusion (TICI 0-1) of the intracranial ICA, MCA-M1 segment or tandem proximal ICA/MCA-M1 suitable for endovascular treatment
- Patient treatable within eight hours of symptom onset
- Informed consent obtained from patient or acceptable patient surrogate
Excluded
- Large established infarct on baseline imaging
- Severe pre-stroke disability
- Comorbidities or coagulopathy precluding endovascular treatment
- Pregnancy
- Symptom onset to randomization beyond 8 hours
Clinical criteria
- Known hemorrhagic diathesis, coagulation factor deficiency, or oral anticoagulant therapy with INR > 3.0
- Baseline platelet count < 30.000/µL
- Baseline blood glucose of < 50mg/dL or >400mg/dl
- Severe, sustained hypertension (SBP > 185 mm Hg or DBP > 110 mm Hg)
- Patients in coma (NIHSS item of consciousness >1) (Intubated patients for transfer could be randomized only in case an NIHSS is obtained by a neurologist prior transportation).
- Seizures at stroke onset which would preclude obtaining a baseline NIHSS
- Serious, advanced, or terminal illness with anticipated life expectancy of less than one year.
- History of life threatening allergy (more than rash) to contrast medium
- Subjects who has received iv t-PA treatment beyond 4,5 hours from the beginning of the symptoms
- Renal insufficiency with creatinine ≥ 3 mg/dl
- Woman of childbearing potential who is known to be pregnant or lactating or who has a positive pregnancy test on admission.
- Subject participating in a study involving an investigational drug or device that would impact this study.
- Cerebral vasculitis
- Patients with a pre-existing neurological or psychiatric disease that would confound the neurological or functional evaluations, mRS score at baseline must be ≤ 1. This excludes patients who are severely demented, require constant assistance in a nursing home type setting or who live at home but are not fully independent in activities of daily living (toileting, dressing, eating, cooking and preparing meals, etc.)
- Unlikely to be available for 90-day follow-up (e.g. no fixed home address, visitor from overseas).
Neuroimaging criteria
- Hypodensity on CT or restricted diffusion amounting to an ASPECTS score of <7 on NCCT or <6 on DWI MRI. Patients 81 to 85 years old with ASPECTS score on non-contrast CT or DWI MRI <9 must be excluded. ASPECTS must be evaluated by CBV maps of CT Perfusion, CTA source imaging (CTA-SI) or DWI-MR in patients whose vascular occlusion study (CTA/MRA) confirming qualifying occlusion, is performed beyond 4.5 hours of last seen well.
- CT or MR evidence of hemorrhage (the presence of microbleeds is allowed).
- Significant mass effect with midline shift.
- Evidence of ipsilateral carotid occlusion, high grade stenosis or arterial dissection in the extracranial or petrous segment of the internal carotid artery that cannot be treated or will prevent access to the intracranial clot or excessive tortuosity of cervical vessels precluding device delivery/deployment
- Subjects with occlusions in multiple vascular territories (e.g., bilateral anterior circulation, or anterior/posterior circulation)
- Evidence of intracranial tumor (except small meningioma).
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01692379· Retrieved 2026-06-08
Primary Outcome — mRS Distribution at 90 Days
All randomized patients (anterior circulation LVO, within 8 hours)
mRS 0-2 at 90 Days
Study Arms
- Agent
- Solitaire FR stent retriever (Covidien), a self-expanding device to retrieve thrombus and restore flow
- Route
- Endovascular (mechanical thrombectomy)
- Frequency
- Single thrombectomy procedure, initiable within 8 h of symptom onset.
- Duration
- One-time procedure
- Co-interventions
- Medical therapy including IV alteplase when eligible (given in BOTH arms; eligible patients received alteplase within 4.5 h before randomization; thrombectomy arm entered after no recanalization ≥30 min post-alteplase, or with alteplase contraindication). QI workflow to minimize time to reperfusion.
Design from Jovin NEJM 2015 p.2297. Thrombectomy 98/103; ipsilateral cervical carotid stenting 9; GA 7 (6.7%); 1 IA alteplase + 1 angioplasty after failed retrieval. mTICI 2b/3 66%. Unrestricted Covidien grant. Source: NCT01692379.
- Agent
- Best medical therapy per Catalan/local acute-stroke guidelines (including IV alteplase when eligible); no protocol-mandated thrombectomy
- Route
- Medical
- Co-interventions
- IV alteplase when eligible (given in BOTH arms). Catalan Health Authorities monitored medical-therapy guideline adherence.
Control = medical therapy alone incl. IV alteplase when eligible (Jovin 2015 p.2296/2299). IV alteplase actually given: control 77.7% vs thrombectomy 68.0%. NO crossovers (distinct from several 2015 EVT trials). Control-arm targets appendix-deferred. Source: NCT01692379.
Trial Design
Type
- Randomized trial embedded in a population-based registry
- Thrombectomy plus medical therapy vs medical therapy alone
- Anterior circulation LVO without large infarct
- Treatment window up to 8 hours
Timeline
Conducted at 4 centers in Catalonia, Spain
N
206
Enrollment
Phase 3 RCT embedded in a population-based stroke registry, enrolling 206 patients across 4 Catalan centers between November 2012 and December 2014 (Jovin NEJM 2015). Stopped early after the other 2015 EVT trials reported positive results.
ClinicalTrials.gov
NCT01692379Bedside Pearl
For an anterior circulation LVO patient between 4.5 and 8 hours from onset, especially when alteplase is contraindicated or has failed, REVASCAT supports proceeding to Solitaire thrombectomy provided ASPECTS is 7 or higher on CT. The functional independence gain is about 15 percentage points (NNT about 7, derived from the secondary mRS 0-2 outcome; the protocol-defined primary was the ordinal mRS shift).
See also