title: Lesion load in unprotected carotid artery stenting.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of the study was to determine the incidence of new ischemic lesions found on diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) in nonselected patients after unprotected carotid artery stent placement.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed a nonrandomized cohort of 197 patients presenting with carotid occlusive disease who underwent unprotected carotid artery stent placement between 2003 and 2006. Mean degree of stenosis was 86.94% +/- 9.72. In all patients, DWI was obtained before and 24 h after stent placement. New lesions were evaluated according to size and location.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 59 of 197 patients (29.9%), new ischemic lesions were found on DWI in the vessel dependent area. In 23 of 197 patients (11.7%), new ischemic lesions were found in the vessel independent area. Combined stroke/death rate was 3.63%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our series of unprotected carotid angioplasty with stent, we found new DWI lesions in 34% of the patients. Further studies should now show in how far protection devices can reduce these lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department for Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University of the Saarland, Homburg, Germany. i.grunwald@gmx.net
authors.forename: I Q
authors.initials: IQ
authors.lastname: Grunwald
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Papanagiotou
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fassbender
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karp
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Krick
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schieber
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haass
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Reith
mesh_terms: D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015607:Stents; D016896:Treatment Outcome