To improve the understanding of the acute anterior circulation ischemic minor stroke with large vessel occlusion.

From 2020 Jan to 2022 Nov, 17 patients with acute anterior circulation ischemic minor stroke and large vessel occlusion were admitted to You'anmen Hospital. They were all emergency thrombectomy cases. The clinical characteristics, effect of mechanical thrombectomy, and the prognosis of these patients were analyzed retrospectively. The difference between the baseline to the 90 d National Institute of Health stroke scale (NIHSS) score were compared using the Wilcoxon rank sum test.

There were 17 patients in total, including 12 males (70.6%), with age of 58(52, 69) years. 14 cases of stroke occurred on the right side (82.4%). Patients with 10 scores in ASPECT score accounted for 41.2%. The etiological type was mainly large atherosclerosis and all of them were intracranial atherosclerosis stenosis (82.4%). 16 patients were successfully recanalized (94.1%). 2 patients got asymptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (11.8%). The difference between the 90 day and the baseline NIHSS score [1(0, 2) vs 4(3, 4)] was statistically significant (Z=-2.386, P=0.017). The 90 day follow-up data showed 88.2% had modified Rankin scale score 0-2.

Mechanical thrombectomy is feasible as a treatment for patients with acute anterior circulation ischemic minor stroke and large vessel occlusion, and has high safety and vessel recanalization rate.