Treatment of symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis with a normal-sized Gateway(™) balloon and Wingspan(™) stent.

The safety and performance of angioplasty using a normal-sized Gateway(™) balloon and Wingspan(™) stent for intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis were assessed. Seventy-two patients with intracranial stenosis (≥ 50%) were treated using an undersized (group U) or normal-sized (group N) Gateway(™) balloon and a Wingspan(™) stent. All patients were successfully stented. Stenosis improved from 74.2% before treatment to 23.8% immediately after treatment in group U and from 70.9% to 20.1% in group N. The two groups had similar rates of major periprocedural neurological complications (9.0% overall), none of which led to death. Residual stenosis at follow-up was 40.8% and 32.5% in groups U and N, respectively. In-stent re-stenosis (ISR) was significantly less frequent in group N (22.0%) than in group U (33.3%). It is concluded that use of a normal-sized Gateway(™) balloon and Wingspan(™) stent appears to be safe, to have a high rate of technical success, good immediate post-operative results and a low ISR rate.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes