Objective: The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate whether the radial force of a self-expandable stent alone is sufficient to dilate an atherosclerotic carotid artery without the need for post-carotid artery stenting (CAS) balloon dilatation (PCasBD).
Methods: We included in our analysis patients who had undergone (1) elective CAS without PCasBD from January 2012 to March 2014, and (2) follow-up conventional angiography 3 months after CAS. We recorded the patients' baseline characteristics and stent types (open-cell [OP] or closed-cell [CL]). Using the minimum width on the lateral projection, stent diameters (SDs) were measured at the site both post-operatively and 3 months after CAS.
Results: Fifty-eight lesions in 55 patients were analyzed. The average age of the patients was 74.4 years;the median SD immediately after CAS was 3.27 mm (interquartile range: 3.09-3.64 mm), while after 3 months it was 3.97 mm (3.58-4.25 mm), a significant increase (p<0.0001). In Regarding OP stents specifically (n=18), the median SD increased from 3.59 to 4.05 mm, while the median diameter of CL stents (n=44) increased from 3.22 to 3.83 mm. The median diameter of OP stents was larger than that of CL stents at both time points (p<0.05), whereas the expansion rate of CL stents was higher.
Conclusion: All stents had spontaneously dilated by 10% to 20% without PCasBD. The diameter of OP stents was larger than that of CL stents, both immediately and 3 months after CAS.(Received:April 1, 2015, Accepted:August 3, 2015).