title: MR and clinical follow-up of diffusion-weighted cerebral lesions after carotid artery stenting.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this prospective study was to determine the outcome of postprocedural cerebral diffusion-weighted (DW) MR lesions after carotid artery stent placement (CAS) and the incidence of new cerebral MR lesions 6 months after the procedure.
  
  
  METHODS
  DW and T2-weighted MR imaging of the brain and neurologic examinations were performed in 105 patients before and 24 hours and 6 months after CAS. In addition, a selective control angiography of the treated artery was performed after 6 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 22 (21%) of 105 patients, DW MR images 24 hours after CAS showed 64 new neurologically silent lesions; 2 (3.1%) of these 64 lesions were also visible in T2-weighted MR images. The latter ones were still visible after 6 months. In the remaining 62 lesions, there were no abnormalities visible in DW and T2-weighted imaging at follow-up. In 2 (1.9%) of the 105 patients, new cerebral lesions were seen in T2-weighted images after 6 months; one patient was neurologically symptomatic. All others patients were neurologically unremarkable at 6-month follow-up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most postprocedural DW lesions showed no manifestations at 6-month MR follow-up and were clinically silent. This indicates that these lesions are potentially reversible and of no major neurologic sequelae. In addition, follow-up 6 months after CAS showed a very low incidence of new cerebral lesions and neurologic events.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Klinikum Dormund, Dormund, Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.forename: Elke A M
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Hauth
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Drescher
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Forsting
authors.forename: Horst J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jaeger
authors.forename: Klaus D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Mathias
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000800:Angioplasty, Balloon / Q000009:adverse effects; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015607:Stents / Q000009:adverse effects