A Comparison of Balloon-Mounted and Self-Expanding Stents in the Carotid Arteries: Immediate and Long-Term Results of More Than 500 Patients

Purpose:To compare the rates of neurological complications and restenosis for balloon-mounted (BM) versus self-expanding (SE) stents deployed in the extracranial carotid arteries.Methods:Among 513 patients (312 men; mean age 71.3 years, range 27–91) who underwent carotid artery stent placement, 496 received 520 stents. The patients were followed with periodic duplex ultrasound examinations; angiography was performed whenever the duplex scan identified a >50% stenosis or symptoms warranted investigation. Periproce-dural data on complications were analyzed on an intention-to-treat basis, while intermediate-term neurological complications were compared in stented patients.Results:In the periprocedural period, there were 19 (3.7%) transient ischemic attacks, 10 (1.9%) minor strokes, 6 (1.2%) major strokes, and 8 (1.6%) deaths among the 513 patients. Five (1.0%) of the deaths were related to neurological complications (3.9% all stroke/neurological death rate). Among the 496 patients receiving 247 (48%) BM sten...