Anesthetic management for Wingspan stent

The bare metal self-expanding Wingspan stent (Boston Scientific, Natick, MA) was approved by the Food and Drug Administration under the Humanitarian Device Exemption in August 2005 for patients with intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) who are refractory to medical therapy. Relatively low rates of periprocedural morbidity and mortality have been reported.

After receiving institutional review board approval, we conducted a retrospective chart review to examine the anesthetic management and perioperative mortality and morbidity for all Wingspan stent insertions performed at our institution from 2005 to 2007.

A total of 72 patients with a history of intracranial stenosis had angioplasty and Wingspan stent insertion: 34 male and 38 female, with an average age of 64 ± 11.6 years. Preoperative systolic blood pressure was 200 ± 45 mmHg, and diastolic blood pressure was 100 ± 23 mmHg. All patients received general anesthesia for stent insertion. Five patients died (6.9%), 4 had perioperative stroke (5.5%), and 9 had recurrent stenosis (12.5%).

Anesthetic management for Wingspan stent insertion for ICAD is challenging. Maintenance of hemodynamic stability with optimum brain perfusion during the stent deployment is crucial to patient safety. A prospective study is warranted to assess the optimal anesthetic choice during Wingspan stent insertion.