Characteristics and In-Hospital Clinical Outcomes of the Patients Undergoing Carotid Artery Stenting: A single center experience

Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate carotid artery stenting (CAS) procedures and in-hospital outcomes performed in our instutition. Materials and Methods: A total of 86 patients who underwent CAS between January 2019 and December 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. Results: Among these patients, 46 of the patients (53.5%) were symptomatic because of a history of transient ischemic attack (TIA) or stroke in the preceding 6 months, and the remain of the patients were asymptomatic (40 patients, 46.5%). The mean age of the patients was significantly lower in symptomatic group compared to asymptomatic group (65.5±10.7 vs 70.2±6.8, p=0.019). Predilatation was performed in 79 patients (91.9%). In 7 patients (8.1%) postdilatation was required due to insufficient opening. Only in 4 patient, both predilatation and postdilatation was performed during the procedure. In most of the patients (84 patients, 97.7%) distal embolic protection device (EPD) were used. Only in two patients (2.3%) proximal EPD were used. Technical success rate was 98.8% (85/86). In-hospital death and disabling stroke was not observed in any patients. TIA was observed in two patients. Conclusion: CAS is safe and effective treatment method in carotid artery stenosis with low complication rates in experienced centers. CAS is alternative treatment to carotid endarterectomy (CEA) especially in patients with high surgical risk.