Initial Results of Selected Use of Covered Stents in Transcarotid Artery Revascularization

Transcarotid artery revascularization (TCAR) is a novel, hybrid approach to treating carotid disease in the treatment of stroke and stroke prevention. Early results of this hybrid approach to carotid stenting using flow reversal have been promising, with reported stroke rates around 1-2.8%.^1,2 Currently, carotid stenting, regardless of approach, is performed with uncovered stents, which incurs the risk of plaque protrusion through the stent and in-stent restenosis. Overall, plaque protrusion is a rare event, with a reported incidence of 2.8% on angiography, but it is associated a high rate of ischemic complications (up to 66.7%).³ The use of covered stents could eliminate the risk of plaque protrusion and therefore short to midterm embolic phenomenon during the remodeling process. It also may improve rates of in-stent restenosis as it is a fully covered stent. Adoption of this technique has the potential to further improve the safety, efficacy, and durability of TCAR.

We performed a retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database of patients undergoing TCAR with covered stents between September 2018 and December 2019. Procedures were performed by the same operator at 2 separate institutions. Indications included severe asymptomatic or symptomatic carotid stenosis with high-risk lesions defined as lesions 2 cm lesions or longer and/or >50% of the lesion containing soft plaque or bleeding carotid pseudoaneurysm. Our primary outcomes included periprocedural and 30-day stroke rates. Secondary outcomes included stent patency and other procedure-related complications. All patients were maintained on clopidogrel postprocedure for 3 months and then transitioned to aspirin, unless otherwise indicated.

A total of 6 patients underwent TCAR with covered stent angioplasty during this time period. Patient demographics included 5 males and 1 female, with an average age of 70.8 ± 4.6 years. Indications for stenting included 4 patients with asymptomatic >70% carotid stenosis and 1 patient with transient ischemic attack-like symptoms and >70% stenosis, and 1 patient with bleeding carotid pseudoaneurysm. Gore Viabahn covered stents were used in all patients. There were no periprocedural or postprocedural ischemic events at 30 days. All 6 stents remained patent at follow-up on duplex ultrasound, and all patients remained asymptomatic on clinical follow-up (average 3.4 [1.4-6.9] months).

The use of covered stents for TCAR appears to be a safe and effective in select patients requiring carotid intervention. It holds the potential to decrease ischemic events from plaque protrusion and in-stent restenosis in the long-term. Further investigation in device design or clinical evaluation is warranted.