Carotid artery stenting versus carotid endarterectomy in the treatment of symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid stenosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Purpose: To evaluate the short-term and intermediate- to long-term efficacy and safety of carotid artery stenting (CAS) compared with carotid endarterectomy (CEA). Materials and Methods: The published literature was electronically searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) between CAS and CEA for the treatment of carotid stenosis performed from January 2000 to January 2017. The short-term and intermediate- to long-term outcomes were evaluated. Results: We identified 10 RCTs including 7,183 participants with symptomatic or asymptomatic carotid stenosis. Our meta-analysis found different results between the patients with and those without symptoms. In patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis, the total stroke incidence in the CAS group was significantly higher than that in the CEA group within the 30-day periprocedural period (p<0.001); however, the myocardial infarction incidence in the CAS group was significantly lower than that in the CEA group (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the mortality within 30 days post-procedure, but the intermediate- to long-term incidence of stroke or death in the CAS group was higher than that of the CEA group (p<0.05). In contrast, for asymptomatic patients, there were no significant differences between the CAS and CEA groups in the short- and intermediate- to long-term outcomes. Conclusion: For patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis, CEA is associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction, whereas CAS is correlated with an increased risk of procedurally related strokes. However, for patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis, no significant difference was found in the efficacy or safety between CAS and CEA.