Background: Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) is the gold standard for the treatment of patients with severe carotid stenosis
(CS). However, carotid artery stenting (CAS) has emerged as an alternative to CEA in surgically unfit patients. The present
study aimed to assess the role of CAS with an embolic protection device (EPD) in the management of symptomatic CS in
patients who were deemed unfit surgically for CEA.
Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective study that encompassed the analysis of patients who presented with
symptomatic CS and were treated with CAS using EPD. The patients' clinical data, procedure details, and procedure
outcomes were obtained from the medical files and analyzed.
Results: This study included 40 patients. During the immediate postprocedural period, one case (2.5%) showed stroke
due to early stent occlusion. The late adverse events were stent occlusion that occurred in 3 patients (7.5%), TIA (n=2;
5%), myocardial infarction (n=3; 7.5%), and stroke (n=2; 5%). The primary patency rate during the follow-up period
was 89.5%, and the secondary patency rate was 94.8%. The presence of diabetes and the stenosis length were significant
predictors of stent occlusion. The delayed mortality rate was 7.5%. The predictors of patients' mortality were the presence
of diabetes mellitus, stent occlusion, and the occurrence of myocardial infarction (MI).
Conclusion: The one-year primary and secondary patency rates were encouraging at 89.5% and 97.4%. Diabetes and
stenosis length were identified as significant predictors of stent occlusion. Mortality was predicted by diabetes, stent
occlusion, and MI.