This ESC Council on Stroke/EAPCI/EBNI position paper summarizes recommendations for training of cardiologists in endovascular treatment of acute ischaemic stroke. Interventional cardiologists adequately trained to perform endovascular stroke interventions could complement stroke teams to provide the 24/7 on call duty and thus to increase timely access of stroke patients to endovascular treatment. The training requirements for interventional cardiologists to perform endovascular therapy are described in details and should be based on two main principles: (i) patient safety cannot be compromised, (ii) proper training of interventional cardiologists should be under supervision of and guaranteed by a qualified neurointerventionist and within the setting of a stroke team. Interdisciplinary cooperation based on common standards and professional consensus is the key to the quality improvement in stroke treatment.

Amphia Hospital Breda The Netherlands

Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies Partner Site Berlin and Center for Stroke Research Berlin Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Germany

Cardiocenter 3rd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Czech Republic

CardioVascular Center Frankfurt Germany and Anglia Ruskin University Chelmsford UK

Centre for Cardiovascular Medicine and Devices William Harvey Research Institute Queen Mary University of London Charterhouse Square London EC1M 6BQ UK

Department of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Neuroradiology Hôpital Purpan Toulouse France

Department of Interventional Cardiology Moscow Hospital 1 Davydovsky and Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry Russian Federation

Department of Neurology Hospital Wall d'Hebron Barcelona Spain

Department of Neuroradiology Karolinska University Hospital Stockholm Sweden

Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicin Academic Hospital of Maastricht Maastricht The Netherlands

Department Section of Neurointervention National Institute of Clinical Neurosciences Semmelweis University Budapest Hungary

Department Section of Neurointervention National Institute of Clinical Neurosciences Semmelweis University Heart and Vascular Center and Semmelweis University Budapest Hungary

Division of cardiology University Hospitals Geneva Switzerland

Gates Vascular Institute and Jacobs Institute Neurosurgery and Radiology University at Buffalo USA

Mitteldeutsches Herzzentrum Standort Bitterfeld Wolfen Germany

Universitätsklinik für Neurochirurgie Kepler Universitäts Klinikum Linz Austria

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust Leicester UK

Vergelegen MediClinic Somerset West University of Cape Town South Africa

Eur Heart J. 2021 Jan 21;42(4):307. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa1004. PubMed

References provided by Crossref.org

Acute ischaemic stroke: recent advances in reperfusion treatment

Stroke thrombectomy (± thrombolysis), and not thrombolysis alone, should be the gold standard for stroke treatment