Clinical and Radiological Characteristics of Patients with Symptomatic Internal Carotid Artery Stenosis and Early and Late Outcomes of Carotid Artery Stenting

Background and Aim: Carotid artery stenting (CAS) is an alternative approach to carotid endarterectomy in cerebrovascular diseases. The applicability of this procedure has increased as a result of development of cerebral protection devices. In the trial, the clinical and radiological characteristics and early and late outcomes of patients who received CAS were investigated. Methods: The study had a retrospective design. The clinical and radiological characteristics and early and late outcomes after CAS of 76 patients (54 male, 22 female) who were admitted to a university hospital between 2008 and 2014 due to a diagnosis of internal carotid artery stenosis (ICA) were retrospectively reviewed. Results: All patients were symptomatic during their admissions, and after their workups were completed, ICA stenosis was determined. Unilateral (Right ICA 34.2%, left ICA 47.4%) stenosis in 62 patients and bilateral stenosis (18.4%) in 14 patients were determined. The mean degree of stenosis was 82.1 (SD:11.36, range: 60-99%). All patients were treated with stenting for ICA stenosis (technical success rate: 100%). No complications occurred during these procedures. During the one-year follow-up, no recurrent ischemic attack occurred in any patients. Carotid artery disease is highly associated with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, a history of cerebrovascular accidents and transient ischemic attack. Conclusions: Carotid artery disease is a critical factor with co-morbidities and history of cerebrovascular incidents. The carotid artery stenting (CAS) procedure is a method that can be used safely because its serious complication rate is low in cases that are well-selected and have had risk analyses performed regarding medical treatments.