Angioplasty for symptomatic intracranial stenosis: clinical outcome.
OBJECTIVE
Medical treatment of symptomatic intracranial stenosis carries a high risk of stroke. This study was done to evaluate the clinical and angiographic outcomes after intracranial angioplasty for this disease.


METHODS
A total of 120 patients with 124 intracranial stenoses were treated by primary angioplasty. All patients had neurologic symptoms (stroke or transient ischemic attack) attributable to intracranial stenoses > or =50%. Angiograms were evaluated before and after angioplasty for the degree of stenosis.


RESULTS
Pretreatment stenoses varied from 50% to 95% (mean 82.2+/-10.2). Post-treatment stenoses varied from 0% to 90% (mean 36.0+/-20.1). There were 3 strokes and 4 deaths (all neurological) within 30 days of the procedure, giving a combined periprocedural stroke and death rate of 5.8%. A total of 116 patients (96.7%) were available for a mean follow-up time of 42.3 months. There were 6 patients who had a stroke in the territory of treatment and 5 additional patients with stroke in other territories. Ten deaths occurred during the follow-up period, none of which were neurological. Including the periprocedural stroke and deaths, this yielded an annual stroke rate of 3.2% in the territory of treatment and a 4.4% annual rate for all strokes.


CONCLUSIONS
Intracranial angioplasty can be performed with a high degree of technical success and a low risk of complications. Long-term clinical follow-up of intracranial angioplasty patients demonstrates a risk of future strokes that compares favorably to patients receiving medical therapy.
Department of Radiology, Stanford University Medical Center, CA 94305-5105, USA. mmarks@stanford.edu
Michael P
MP
Marks
Joan C
JC
Wojak
Firas
F
Al-Ali
Mahesh
M
Jayaraman
Mary L
ML
Marcellus
John J
JJ
Connors
Huy M
HM
Do
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017130:Angioplasty / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D002537:Intracranial Arteriosclerosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020521:Stroke / Q000209:etiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome