Clinical features and outcomes of carotid artery stenting by clinical expert consensus criteria: a report from the CARE registry.
BACKGROUND
In 2007, a multispecialty society task force published a clinical expert consensus document (CECD) on carotid stenting (CAS), containing recommendations for appropriate patient selection and quality of care. The CECD also inspired creation of a large, national registry of carotid revascularization, the Carotid Artery Revascularization and Endarterectomy (CARE) registry. Our goal here was to investigate whether initial CAS procedures submitted to CARE conformed to CECD recommendations, and examine their clinical outcomes.


METHODS
We analyzed CAS procedures for the period January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2008. These were grouped into those that conformed to CECD recommendations [CECD(+), n = 4,636, 79.8%] and those that did not [CECD(-), n = 1,168, 20.2%].


RESULTS
The CECD(+) patients were older than CECD(-) patients (71.5 +/- 10.3 vs. 67.6 +/- 10.3 years, P = 0.001, respectively), and more frequently had chronic kidney disease (46.9% vs. 17.8%, P = 0.001), chronic lung disease (33.0% vs. 12.4%, P = 0.001), ejection fraction <or= 0.30 (13.5% vs. 5.5%, P = 0.001) and contralateral carotid artery occlusion (12.7% vs. 4.6%, P = 0.001). Clinical outcomes at 30 days were similar, including death (1.24% vs. 0.76%, P = 0.184), stroke (5.32% vs. 5.34%, P = 0.954), and death, stroke, or MI (7.04% vs. 6.95%, P = 0.944).


CONCLUSIONS
Most CAS procedures submitted to CARE conformed to CECD recommendations for patient selection. For reported data, clinical outcomes at 30 days were similar for procedures meeting and those not meeting recommendations, and were similar to outcomes reported by other large registries. These findings suggest that acceptable patient selection criteria for CAS are employed as it expands beyond investigators into more widespread clinical practice.
Anderson
H Vernon
HV
Cardiology Division, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. h.v.anderson@uth.tmc.edu
Rosenfield
Kenneth A
KA
White
Christopher J
CJ
Ho
Kalon K L
KK
Spertus
John A
JA
Jones
Philip G
PG
Tang
Fengming
F
Cates
Christopher U
CU
Jaff
Michael R
MR
Koroshetz
Walter J
WJ
Katzan
Irene L
IL
Hopkins
L Nelson
LN
Rumsfeld
John S
JS
Brindis
Ralph G
RG
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017130:Angioplasty / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000401:mortality; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D016894:Endarterectomy, Carotid; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012042:Registries; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015607:Stents; D020521:Stroke / Q000209:etiology; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States