Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty in selected patients with severe carotid artery stenoses:The results of a consecutive series of 24 patients

Objectives: to assess clinically and with duplex scanning the results of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty in a subgroup of patients with carotid artery stenosis. Design: a retrospective study. Materials: twenty-four patients with focal hemispheric neurological symptoms from a concentric, smooth carotid stenosis more than 70% treated with balloon dilatation. Control investigations were performed with scanning. Results: angiography after PTA revealed no residual stenosis in 15 patients (62%), a stenosis of less than 50 was seen in seven patients (30%) and PTA was ineffective in two patients (8%). Three patients (13%) had transient ischaemic attacks during the procedure but none had strokes. One patient experienced short lasting paraesthesia of the arm a few hours after the PTA procedure. After a follow-up of a mean of 11 months (1-38) no recurrent symptoms had occurred. Clinical success was thus achieved in 22 of 24 patients (92%). At duplex scanning, 16 (66%) patients had no stenosis six patients (30%) had a stenosis of 70%, one patient (4%) a stenosis of 80%, and one patient had an occluded carotid artery. Conclusion: our results indicate that the PTA in a selected group of patients with carotid artery stenosis is safe and the interim, long-term results are promising. The procedure must be evaluated in a randomised prospective study against surgical treatment.