Endovascular therapy for steno-occlusive subclavian and innominate artery disease.

Background: This study investigated the safety and outcome of endovascular therapy for steno-occlusive subclavian or innominate artery disease at a single center over a long period of more than 2 decades. METHODS AND RESULTS: We retrospectively analyzed all endovascular procedures of stenosis or occlusion of the subclavian or innominate artery between January 1990 and October 2013. During the observation period, a total of 130 procedures were attempted in 127 mostly symptomatic patients with stenosis (n=108; 83%) or occlusion (n=22; 17%) of the subclavian (n=119; 92%) and innominate (n=11; 8%) artery.

Safety and mid-term outcome of endovascular therapy for internal carotid artery disease: a 15-year experience at a single-centre angiology institution.

Background: Endovascular therapy of carotid artery disease has emerged as a potential alternative to endarterectomy and its clinical practise dramatically increased in many parts of the world. This study aims to determine the safety and mid-term outcome of carotid artery stenting (CAS) within a 15-year carotid program at a single-centre institution.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively analysed all CAS-procedures performed at our institution between 1995 and 2009.

Neuropsychological sequelae of carotid angioplasty with stent placement: correlation with ischemic lesions in diffusion weighted imaging.

Background And Purpose: Few studies investigated the neuropsychological outcome after carotid angioplasty with stent placement (CAS), yielding partially inconsistent results. The present investigation evaluated the effect of CAS in patients with high-grade stenosis and assessed the predictive value of ischemic lesion number for postinterventional cognitive deterioration.

Methods: 22 patients were tested neuropsychologically before and six weeks after CAS.

Predictors of death and stroke after carotid angioplasty and stenting: a subgroup analysis of the Pro-CAS data.

Background And Purpose: Little is known about the significance of patient characteristics, clinical indications, and technical details on the risk of carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS). The purpose of this study was to test these parameters as to their predictive value for the peri-interventional risk of CAS.

Methods: Pro-CAS is a prospective, multicenter registry of CAS.

Differences in number, size and location of intracranial microembolic lesions after surgical versus endovascular treatment without protection device of carotid artery stenosis.

Background And Purpose: The benefit of carotid endarterectomy in symptomatic high-grade stenosis has long been proven. The role of angioplasty as an alternative is still a matter of debate. We compared the occurrence of intraprocedural microembolic signals and ischemic lesions between carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid angioplasty with stent placement (CAS) without a protection device.

Pro-CAS: a prospective registry of carotid angioplasty and stenting.

Background And Purpose: The German Societies of Angiology and Radiology have instituted a prospective registry of carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS) to limit uncontrolled use of CAS and to collect data about technique and results of CAS outside clinical trials.

Methods: A total of 38 centers register their patients prospectively before CAS is performed. At discharge, technical details, periprocedural medication, and the clinical course are reported on a standardized form.

A comprehensive approach to visual and functional assessment of experimental vascular lesions in vivo.

The rat carotid injury model is the most widely used model to study the pathophysiology of neointimal hyperplasia as well as the value of novel therapeutic approaches to limit vasoproliferative diseases such as restenosis. For lesion assessment, the current gold standard of histomorphometry neither provides integral insight into the vascular lesion in vivo nor assesses of functional lesion-associated flow alterations and the time course of lesion development. To overcome these limitations, we applied and validated duplex sonography as a novel tool for comprehensive lesions assessment in vivo.