Safety and mid-term outcome of endovascular therapy for internal carotid artery disease: a 15-year experience at a single-centre angiology institution.

Background: Endovascular therapy of carotid artery disease has emerged as a potential alternative to endarterectomy and its clinical practise dramatically increased in many parts of the world. This study aims to determine the safety and mid-term outcome of carotid artery stenting (CAS) within a 15-year carotid program at a single-centre institution. Patients and methods: We retrospectively analysed all CAS-procedures performed at our institution between 1995 and 2009. Results: During the observation period, a total of 497 CAS procedures were attempted in 460 patients with stenoses of the internal carotid artery of which 187 (37.6 %) were symptomatic and 310 (62.4 %) were asymptomatic. CAS was successful in 479 (96.4 %) cases and success rate significantly increased throughout the study (p < 0.001). The periprocedural complication rate for death, stroke, and transient ischemic attack (TIA) was 0.4 %, 1.2 %, and 2.6 %, respectively, and the cumulative event rate did not differ between symptomatic and asympt...