Purpose: We aimed to investigate the safety and effectiveness of intracranial stenting in a population with severe (≥ 70%) symptomatic intracranial internal carotid artery (ICA) atherosclerotic stenosis.
Methods: Fifty-eight patients with severe intracranial ICA atherosclerotic stenosis were prospectively enrolled. The baseline data, cerebral angiography, success rate, perioperative complications, clinical and imaging follow-up were prospectively analyzed.
Results: All patients had successful intracranial stenting (100%), and the mean degree of stenosis was improved from 84.3% ± 7.5% to 23.5% ± 5.1% after the stent procedure. During the 30-day perioperative period, only one patient (1.7%) had ischemic stroke. Seven patients (12.1%) had headache and dysphoria. Thirty-six patients (62.1%) had clinical follow-up for 6-68 months after stenting. Five female patients (13.9%) had ipsilateral stroke including one death, but no disabling stroke, while three other patients (8.3%) had ipsilateral temporary ischemic attack (TIA). The recurrent stroke rate was higher in patients presenting with stroke (4/17, 23.5%) than in patients presenting with TIA (1/19, 5.3%), with no statistical significance (P = 0.33). Thirteen patients (22.4%) had imaging follow-up of 5-12 months following stenting, five of whom (38.5%) had in-stent restenosis.
Conclusion: Intracranial stenting for patients with intracranial ICA atherosclerotic stenosis has a low perioperative stroke rate and decent outcome on long-term follow-up, despite a relatively high in-stent restenosis rate.