New ischemic brain lesions after carotid artery stenting.

Carotid artery stenting is associated with the risk of periprocedural stroke. Moreover, modern magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques have found high rates of clinically silent ischemic brain lesions on post-treatment diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) scans. The clinical significance of procedure-related DWI lesions, however, is still a matter of debate. This review article considers the frequency, location and pathophysiology of new DWI lesions on post-treatment MR images and summarizes available data on their clinical significance.