Endovascular Surgery for Internal Carotid Stenoses. Results of PTA vs. Stenting.

SUMMARY: This paper will overview our results of endovascular therapy (PTA or stenting) for cervical ICA stenosis and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each treatment. 60 cases with 62 lesions were treated with PTA 68 times, while 36 cases with 37 lesions were treated with stenting 37 times. A total of 99 lesions were treated with PTA or stenting 105 times. In the PTA group arterial stenosis improved from 76.4% to 21%. In the stent group the stenosis improved from 82.3% to 8.3%. The morbidity rate was 2/60 (3.3%) in PTA group, although two cases had minor neurological deficits, while in stent treated group, morbidity rate was 1/36 (2.8%), although it showed one major neurological deficit. Mortality was 0% in each group. The restenosis rate in PTA group was 15/58 (26%), while it was 0/20 (0%) in stent treated group. Stenting brings significant reduction of stenosis and reduces the rate of restenosis compared to PTA. However, stenting has its own disadvantages such as hypotension and distal kinks when deployed in tortuous ICA stenosis.