Six-year outcomes of carotid artery stenting performed with multidisciplinary management in a single center

OBJECTIVEThis study aimed to evaluate the first 30-day results of clinical, periprocedural asymptomatic cranial embolism, and long-term restenosis of the multidisciplinary conducted and evaluated carotid artery stenting (CAS) procedure in our patient group with real-life data. METHODSA total of 610 patients who were subjected to consecutive CAS procedures in our center between December 2010 and February 2019 were clinically and radiologically followed up for a mean duration of 6 years. Of the 610 patients, 274 (45%) were symptomatic for carotid artery stenosis, whereas 336 (55%) were identified as asymptomatic. As embolism protection methods, distal protection, proximal protection, and double (distal + proximal) protection was used in 52%, 43%, and 0.3% of patients, respectively. RESULTSThe success rate of the CAS procedure was 96%. Procedure-related death was reported in 4 (0.6%) patients who successfully underwent the CAS procedure. Moreover, acute carotid artery stent thrombosis, hyperperfusion syndrome, periprocedural major stroke, and periprocedural minor stroke was observed in 4 (0.6%), 2 (0.3%), 2 (0.3%), and 12 (1.9%) patients, respectively. The total clinical complication rates during the first 30 periprocedural days were 1.6% (10 patients) and 3.1% (19 patients) in the asymptomatic and symptomatic groups, respectively. On cranial magnetic resonance imaging performed, asymptomatic ipsilateral cranial microembolism, asymptomatic contralateral cranial microembolism, and bilateral asymptomatic cranial microembolism was detected in 61 (11.6%), 20 (3.8%), 23 (4.4%) patients, respectively. Asymptomatic restenosis was observed in 24 (3.9%) patients. CONCLUSIONThe CAS procedure is a reliable treatment option applicable with acceptable complication and success rates as outlined in the guidelines, when performed following a multidisciplinary evaluation, in the treatment of symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis, including high-risk patient groups.