title: Stenting from the vertebral artery to the posterior inferior cerebellar artery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There are only a few reports on the feasibility and safety of stents used in the PICA, and clinical and angiographic follow-up results have not been fully addressed. We report our experiences of treating PICA origin or vertebral artery-PICA lesions by using self-expanding stents as adjuvant or rescue therapy with angiographic and clinical follow-up results.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six patients were treated with self-expanding stent placements from the vertebral artery to the PICA. Two patients had a vertebral artery dissecting aneurysm involving the PICA origin, 3 had vertebral artery-PICA aneurysms, and 1 had segmental stenosis of the vertebral artery harboring the origin of the PICA. The safety, feasibility, and follow-up angiographic results were retrospectively evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All procedures were successfully performed without any procedure-related complications. None of the patients showed PICA territorial infarction on DWI posttreatment. All patients were neurologically intact during the clinical follow-up of 3-24 months following the procedure. Follow-up angiography was performed at between 6 and 12 months in 5 of the 6 patients and was scheduled for the sixth patient but was not performed. The PICA showed good patency without in-stent stenosis in all 5 patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In patients with lesions of the PICA origin or vertebral artery-PICA lesions, vertebral artery-to-PICA stent placement may be an option for preserving PICA patency in selected cases.
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors: M J
authors: MJ
authors: Kim
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Chung
authors: S L
authors: SL
authors: Kim
authors: H G
authors: HG
authors: Roh
authors: B J
authors: BJ
authors: Kwon
authors: B-s
authors: BS
authors: Kim
authors: T H
authors: TH
authors: Kim
authors: B M
authors: BM
authors: Kim
authors: Y S
authors: YS
authors: Shin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000098:blood supply*; D002539:Cerebral Arterial Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000601:surgery*; D057510:Endovascular Procedures; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015607:Stents; D014711:Vertebral Artery / Q000601:surgery*