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Updated: Jul 14, 2026
A Murine Model of Stent Implantation in the Carotid Artery for the Study of Restenosis
Published on: May 14, 2013
Uncommon Carotid Artery Stenting Complications: A Series by Images
Giuseppe Vadalà1,2, Vincenzo Sucato1,2, Francesco Costa3
1Division of Cardiology, University Hospital Paolo Giaccone, 90100 Palermo, Italy.
Aims:
To describe through emblematic images rare but clinically relevant carotid artery stenting complications that occurred at two high-volume centres for carotid artery stenting (CAS).
Background:
CAS is an alternative to carotid endarterectomy (CEA) for the treatment of carotid artery stenosis in patients judged to be at high risk for CEA. CAS complications range between 1 and 9% and are higher in older patients complaining of neurological symptoms at the time of presentation. Besides periprocedural or early-after-procedure stroke, which remains the true Achilles' heel of CAS, other dramatic complications might compromise the clinical outcomes of this procedure.
Methods:
Five infrequent complications, out of more than 1000 CAS performed in the years 2016-2021, have been described.
Results:
Among CAS complications, acute carotid stent thrombosis, rescue retrieval of a disconnected distal cerebral embolic protection device, plaque prolapse after carotid stenting, cerebral hyperperfusion syndrome (CHS), and radial artery long sheath entrapment requiring surgical intervention were found to account for 0.3% of the total number of procedures performed by operators with high CAS volume.
Conclusions:
Unusual CAS complications may infrequently occur, even in hands of expert operators. To know how to deal with such complications might help interventionalists to improve CAS performance.
