Wingspan stent system in the treatment of symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis

Abstract

Objective To assess the safety, feasibility, short-and mid-term efficacy of wingspan stent for treating patients with symptomatic intracranial artery stenosis. Methods A total of 113 patients with severe symptomatic intracranial stenosis were enrolled and Gateway-wingspan stenting were performed on all patients. The technical success, the pre- and post-stenting stenosis, perioperative complications, clinical outcome and restenosis rates were recorded, and chi-square test was used for analysis of complication rate by comparing our results with the results of Warfarin-Aspirin Symptomatic Intracranial Disease (WASID) study and NIH multi-center Wingspan stenting trial. Results The technical success rate was 99. 1% ( 112/113). The mean pre and post-stent stenoses were (80.7 ± 9.3)% and (27.7 ± 9.7)% (χ2 =9.397,P < 0. 05 ). The total complication rate was 4.4% (5/113 ) during the follow-up ( mean 14. 5 months, range 1-28 months), and the frequency of restenosis was 12. 5% (5/40) at 6 months. The primary endpoint events, ischemic stroke, and lesion-related ischemic stroke were lower in our study (4.5%, 3.5%,3.5% ) compared with the results of WASID trial (21.1%, 20. 4%, 15.0% ,P<0. 05). For those with poor outcome in the three high-risk sub-groups which were with more than 70% stenosis, or last event from the treatment was less than 17 days, or NIHSS was above 1, a better outcome was observed in our group (4. 5% ,4. 7% and 2. 0% in our study, 19.0%, 17.0% and 19. 6% in previous study, P < 0. 05). The medium-term efficacy in this group (4. 5% ) significantly improved compared with NIH study ( 14. 0% ,P <0. 05 ). Conclusions Wingspan stenting for symptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis is with good safety,feasibility and low perioperative stroke rate and mortality. The incidence of primary endpoint events and the ischemic events are lower than those of medication group, and the efficacy of stenting is significantly better than medication even in high-risk population. Key words: Intracranial arteriosclerosis; Angioplasty; Stents