Practical aspects of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of the carotid artery

The authors are reporting a total of 41 patients undergoing percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) at different levels of the carotid artery. The procedure for proximal carotid artery was performed on 17 patients, for mid or distal common carotid artery on 4 patients, for carotid bifurcations on 5 patients, for internal carotid artery on 6 patients, for external carotid artery on 4 patients, and for fibromuscular dysplasia of the internal carotid artery on 5 patients. We also collected research on an additional 53 patients from the literature for a total of 94 patients. To date, we have not encountered any mortalities nor neurologic complications in performing this procedure. Thus, we believe that PTA may be performed with reasonable safety and as an alternate procedure in the treatment of carotid artery stenosis.