Background: Small brain infarcts are often seen
on diffusion-weighted MRI(DWI) following surgical/endovascular procedures.
Little is known about their clinical effects. We examined the association of
iatrogenic infarcts with outcomes in the ENACT(Evaluating Neuroprotection in
Aneurysm Coiling Therapy) trial of nerinetide in endovascular aneurysm
repair. Methods: In this post-hoc analysis, we used
multi-variable models to evaluate the association of presence/number of DWI
iatrogenic infarcts with NIHSS(National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale),
mRS(modified Rankin Scale), and cognitive/neuropsychological
scores(30-minute battery) at 1-4 and 30-days post-procedure. We also related
infarct number to a Z-score-derived composite outcome score(quantile
regression). Results: Among 185 patients(median
age:56,IQR:50-64), 124(67.0%) had iatrogenic infarcts(median:4,IQR:2-10.5).
Nerinetide resulted in fewer infarcts. Patients with infarcts had lower
Mini-Mental State Exam(MMSE) scores at 2-4 days(median:28 vs 29,
adjusted-coefficient[acoef] per additional infarct:-1.11,95%CI:-1.88 to
-0.34,p=0.005). Infarct number was associated with worse day-1 NIHSS(aOR for
NIHSS≥1:1.07,1.02-1.12,p=0.009), day 2-4 mRS(adjusted common
odds-ratio[aOR]:1.05,1.01-1.09,p=0.005) and MMSE(acoef:-0.07,-0.13 to
-0.003,p=0.040), 30-day mRS(aOR:1.04,1.01-1.07,p=0.016) and Hopkins Verbal
Learning Test scores(acoef:-0.21,-0.39 to -0.03,p=0.020), as well as worse
composite scores at 1-4 and 30-days(acoef:-0.09,-0.15 to -0.03,p=0.006).
Conclusions: Iatrogenic infarcts were associated
with subtle differences in post-procedural(1-4 days) and 30-day outcomes in
this middle-aged cohort. Future studies should use batteries of
similar/greater granularity to validate optimal measures for short- versus
long-term manifestations.