Stroke showdown: which clot removal method saves more brain?

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: 1. Age ≥ 18 years; 2. Clinically diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke, and pre-procedure imaging confirms that the culprit vessel is occlusion of the intracranial segment of the internal carotid artery and/or the middle cerebral artery M1 segment; 3. Pre-stroke modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 0-1; 4. Baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score ≥ 6; 5. Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) ≥ 3; 6. Time from symptom onset to initiation of endovascular treatment (arterial puncture) \< 24 hours; symptom onset time is defined as the "last known well" time; 7. Intravenous thrombolysis and/or mechanical thrombectomy are performed according to local guidelines, and intravenous thrombolysis does not delay mechanical thrombectomy; 8. Written informed consent is obtained from the patient or a family member. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Imaging shows acute or subacute intracranial hemorrhage (excluding microbleeds); 2. Imaging indicates an intracranial tumor (excluding meningiomas \<2 cm in diameter) or mass effect caused by a tumor, such as midline shift; 3. Cerebral embolism caused by infection or bacterial endocarditis; 4. The culprit vessel lesion is considered to be chronic atherosclerotic stenosis and occlusion; 5. Pre-procedure imaging suggests that the lesion is due to dissection; 6. Previous intracranial aneurysm or vascular malformation in the culprit vessel; 7. Presence of a life-threatening illness within 6 months that would prevent 3-month follow-up; 8. Pregnancy, psychiatric illness, severe hepatic or renal insufficiency, severe heart failure; 9. Concurrent participation in another clinical drug or device study; 10. Metastatic tumor; 11. Systemic infection; 12. Any other condition that, in the investigator's judgment, makes the patient unsuitable for participation in this study.