Long-term outcomes of drug-eluting stent implantation in patients with symptomatic extra- and intracranial atherosclerotic stenoses

OBJECTIVE: Implantation of drug-eluting stents (DES) for extra- and intracranial atherosclerotic stenoses is an emerging topic. It has the potential benefit of preventing recurrent stroke with a reduced rate of in-stent restenosis (ISR). METHODS: Patients who underwent extra- or intracranial stenting using DES in a single institution were retrospectively reviewed with long-term angiographic and clinical follow-up data. RESULTS: Twenty-one patients, 9 (42.9%) with extracranial lesions and 12 (57.1%) with intracranial lesions, were included. The most common symptom was cerebral infarction (71.4%), followed by vertebrobasilar insufficiency (19.1%) and transient ischemic attack (9.5%). All patients achieved technical success, with the mean degree of stenosis of 85.9±6.3% before the procedure and 19.5±5.9% after the procedure. All patients showed clinical improvement and no symptomatic recurrence was reported during the mean clinical follow-up period of 45.5±8.9 months. The significant ISR was observed in one patient (4.8%) during the mean radiological follow-up period of 42.8±10.0 months. CONCLUSIONS: Implantation of drug-eluting stents for symptomatic extra- and intracranial atherosclerotic stenoses is feasible and has the potential benefit of reducing the rate of ISR.