title: Endovascular treatment of extracranial vertebral artery stenosis.
abstract: Percutaneous angioplasty and stenting for the treatment of extracranial vertebral artery (VA) stenosis seems a safe, effective and useful technique for resolving symptoms and improving blood flow to the posterior circulation, with a low complication rate and good long-term results. In patients with severe tortuosity of the vessel, stent placement is a real challenge. The new coronary balloon-expandable stents may be preferred. A large variability of restenosis rates has been reported. Drug-eluting stents may be the solution. After a comprehensive review of the literature, it can be concluded that percutaneous angioplasty and stenting of extracranial VA stenosis is technically feasible, but there is insufficient evidence from randomized trials to demonstrate that endovascular management is superior to best medical management.
authors.affiliation: Burak Kocak, Bora Korkmazer, Civan Islak, Naci Kocer, Osman Kizilkilic, Department of Radiology, Division of Neuroradiology, Cerrahpasa School of Medicine, Istanbul University, 34098 Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Burak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kocak
authors.forename: Bora
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Korkmazer
authors.forename: Civan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Islak
authors.forename: Naci
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kocer
authors.forename: Osman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kizilkilic