To investigate the therapeutic effects of intravenous thrombolysis, intral-arterial thrombolysis, basilar artery embolectomy combined with stent implantation on patients with posterior-circulation infarction.

Fifty-seven patients with acute posterior circulation infarction (onset time within 6 to 72 h), admitted to our hospital from March 2005 to February 2013, were chosen; All subjects were randomly divided into three groups: group A, accepted intravenous thrombolysis (within 6 h of onset), group B, accepted intral-arterial thrombolysis (within 6-24 h of onset), and group C, accepted basilar artery embolectomy and stent implantation (over 24 h of onset). US National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was used to observe the clinical symptom improvement, and evaluate the results before and 24 h and 7 d after treatment. Three months after treatment, modified Rankin Scale (mRS) was employed to evaluate the clinical prognosis.

Significant differences were noted in the treatment efficacy 24 h and 7 d after treatment among the three approaches (P<0.05): that in group B was obviously higher than that in group A; that in group C was obviously higher than that in group A and B. The mRS scores were significantly different among the three groups (P<0.05): the clinical outcome improvement in group B was obviously higher than that in group A; that in group C was obviously higher than that in group A and B.

Different treatments should be adopted based on the specific circumstances of the patients; for those with long time window of thrombolysis, basilar artery embolectomy combined with stent implantation might be more effective in improving the prognosis of the patients.

Posterior circulation infarction; Intravenous thrombolysis; Intral-arterial thrombolysis; Basilar artery embolectomy; Stent implantation