Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze the clinical outcome of 75 consecutive patients with cervical carotid artery stenosis and who were treated by carotid artery stenting (CAS) only.
Methods: From February 2003 to June 2008, there were 78 stents placed in 75 symptomatic patients (mean age : 67.3 years); 69 patients had carotid stenosis >/=70%, and 6 patients had asymptomatic stenosis >/=80%. No carotid endarterectomy (CEA) was performed during the same period. The patients were clinically followed-up for a mean of 20.1 months.
Results: The procedures were technically successful in all cases. Three (3.8%) patients had procedure-related complications. During the 30-day postprocedural period, there were no restenosis or major stroke. Minor stroke was noticed in 3 (3.8%) patients and 1 (1.3%) of the 75 patients suddenly expired 2 days after discharge. There were no new neurological symptoms that developed during the clinical follow-up period. The results of our series were not inferior to those the previously published in CAS studies, and in fact they were better.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that CAS may be safe and useful for the treatment of cervical carotid artery stenosis when it is used as the first line treatment in those institutions that lack enough experience with CEA.
Keywords: Carotid artery stenosis; Carotid artery stenting; Carotid endarterectomy; Stroke.