Intracranial Hemorrhage Is Much More Common After Carotid Stenting Than After Endarterectomy

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Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) is a rare and devastating complication of carotid revascularization. We sought to determine the prevalence of, type of, and risk factors associated with ICH among recipients of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS) within the National Inpatient Sample (NIS). Postoperative cases of ICH after CEA (International Classification of Disease 9th edition [ICD-9]: 38.12) or CAS (ICD-9: 00.63) were retrieved from the 2001 to 2008 NIS. Clinical presentation (asymptomatic versus symptomatic), discharge status, in-hospital mortality, demographics, and hospital characteristics were extracted from NIS data. Charlson indices of comorbidity were determined based on ICD-9 and clinical classification software codes. Multivariate regression was used to determine the impact of revascularization procedure type and symptom status on adverse outcomes, including ICH, in-hospital mortality, and unfavorable discharge status. Among 57,663,486 NIS hospital admissions, 215,012 CEA and 13,884 CAS procedures were performed. Symptomatic presentations represented the minority of CEA (N=10,049; 5%) and CAS cases (N=1251; 10%). ICH occurred significantly more frequently after CAS than CEA in both symptomatic (4.4% versus 0.8%; P<0.0001) and asymptomatic presentations (0.5% versus 0.06%; P<0.0001). Multivariate regression suggested that symptomatic presentations (versus asymptomatic) and CAS procedures (versus CEA) were both independently predictive of 6-fold to 7-fold increases in the frequency of postoperative ICH. ICH was independently predictive in a 30-fold increased risk of mortality before discharge. CAS procedures are associated with elevated adverse outcomes, including ICH, in-hospital death, and unfavorable discharges, especially among symptomatic presentations.