Cervical Carotid Revascularization

Clinical, anatomic, and procedural durability of carotid revascularization

Carotid endarterectomy and carotid angioplasty with stenting are 2 common approaches to revascularization. Phase III randomized clinical trials have focused on comparisons of periprocedural outcomes and composite outcomes that combine procedural events and clinical events during follow-up. The comparison of outcomes beyond the perioperative risk period, where the principal concern is durability, defined in clinical, anatomic, and procedural terms, has received less attention. The purpose of this review is to discuss factors that may influence durability and to compare the durability of carotid revascularization techniques beyond the perioperative period using data from randomized clinical trials.

Carotid artery stenting versus carotid endarterectomy: current status

Carotid occlusive disease remains an important cause of ischemic stroke. The results of large, randomized, clinical trials have established the benefit of surgical revascularization in patients with symptomatic or asymptomatic carotid stenosis. The introduction of balloon angioplasty and stenting of the extracranial carotid artery as a potential alternative to surgery has been received with enthusiasm by patients and physicians. Whether or not this enthusiasm is justified fully has yet to be determined. This article reviews established and emerging data from clinical trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of carotid endarterectomy, carotid angioplasty, and stenting.

Carotid endarterectomy versus angioplasty/stenting for carotid stenosis

Carotid occlusive disease remains an important cause of ischemic stroke. The results of large, randomized clinical trials have established the benefit of surgical revascularization in selected patients with symptomatic or asymptomatic carotid stenosis. The introduction of balloon angioplasty and stenting of the extracranial carotid artery as a potential alternative to surgery has been received with enthusiasm by patients and physicians alike. Whether or not this enthusiasm is fully justified has yet to be determined. This article reviews published data regarding the safety and clinical efficacy of carotid angioplasty and stenting. Particular focus is directed towards results from recently completed and ongoing prospective comparative trials of endarterectomy and carotid angioplasty and stenting.

Carotid Artery Stenting Versus Carotid Endarterectomy: Current Status

As operator experience and device technology continue to improve, the theoretic advantages of endovascular approaches to treat carotid occlusive disease may be closer to realization. Currently, data from controlled trials of CAS is minimal, but several multicenter RCTs comparing CAS to CEA are recruiting patients actively and preliminary results show procedural morbidity and mortality rates for CAS that compare favorably to CEA. Community-based experience with CAS continues to grow and further refinements in patient selection based on plaque morphology and other variables offer further hope that endovascular approaches to carotid occlusive disease may benefit selected patients. Given the proved efficacy and durability of CEA for treatment of extracranial carotid stenosis, surgical revascularization remains the recommended standard of care for most patients. CAS will have to be proved equivalent or superior to surgery and as cost-effective to facilitate its widespread acceptance as a treatment alternative for carotid occlusive disease.

Vascular stenting

An explosion of technology has occurred in the last 10 years, intended to make treatment of vascular diseases less invasive. Once the exclusive domain of the interventional cardiologist and the coronary circulation, now in 2001 nearly every vascular system has been explored as a site for endovascular treatment of aneurysmal and atherosclerotic disease. This review will focus on endovascular treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysmal disease and carotid artery disease, and relevant issues for the anesthesiologist encountering these patients and procedures.

Toward clinical equipoise: the current case for carotid angioplasty and stent placement

Recent advances in carotid artery (CA) stent placement procedures have propelled this technology into the forefront of treatment options for both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with CA stenosis. Until recently, endarterectomy was the only surgical option for patients with CA occlusive disease. For high-risk surgical candidates, periprocedural stroke rates remained unacceptable and were significantly higher than those associated with the natural history of the disease. Advances in stent technology and improvements in antiplatelet and antithrombotic regimens, in conjunction with distal protection devices, have significantly lowered the risk of periprocedural complications for high-risk surgical candidates requiring CA revascularization. In this paper the authors review data gleaned from the important recent CA stent trials and address questions concerning the safety, efficacy, and durability of stent-assisted angioplasty for extracranial CA occlusive disease. Additionally, they review the role of noninvasive imaging modalities for the diagnosis and surveillance of CA disease in these high-risk patients.