Background and purpose: The optimal treatment of patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis who are poor surgical candidates is uncertain. The purposes of this study were to report the long-term outcome after angioplasty in a series of these patients and to compare these data with historical control data from the North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial (NASCET).
Methods: We identified 42 consecutive patients with >70% carotid stenosis and ipsilateral ischemic symptoms within 120 days of treatment with angioplasty. All were considered poor surgical candidates by experienced surgeons. Baseline epidemiological stroke risk factors were obtained from review of medical records. Follow-up was from clinic records and by telephone.
Results: Baseline epidemiological stroke risk factors were similar to those of medically treated NASCET patients. Angioplasty patients tended to have higher degrees of stenosis (45% with >90% stenosis versus 24% in NASCET) and more frequent contralateral stenosis or occlusion (30% versus 9%) than NASCET patients. Three patients suffered procedural strokes; 2 of the 3 made nearly complete recoveries. One additional patient suffered a central retinal occlusion 48 hours after angioplasty. No ipsilateral strokes occurred during the mean follow-up period of 1.7 years. Three patients were lost to follow-up. The cumulative risk of stroke was 9.5% (4 of 42) compared with 26% at 2 years for medically treated patients in NASCET.
Conclusions: These pilot data suggest a beneficial effect of angioplasty for patients with high-grade symptomatic carotid stenosis who are not good surgical candidates.