Safety and efficacy of different stent types for the endovascular therapy of extracranial vertebral artery disease.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to determine safety and efficacy of different stent types for extracranial vertebral artery stenting (EVAS) at a single-center institution.; BACKGROUND: Although endovascular revascularization techniques are well established for a variety of arterial vessel territories, its role within the vertebrobasilar system is less well defined.; METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed all EVAS procedures performed at our institution between 1997 and 2012.; RESULTS: A total of 35 EVAS procedures were attempted in 35 patients with symptomatic occlusive extracranial vertebral artery (EVA) disease. Carotid self-expanding bare-metal stents (BMS-SE; n = 18), coronary balloon-expandable bare-metal stents (BMS-BE; n = 7) or drug-eluting stents (DES-BE; n = 16) were used according to physicians choice. The overall technical and clinical success rate was 100 and 94 %, respectively. Periprocedural complications included one death 14 days after intervention due to complications of initial stroke and 3 (9 %) patients with access site complications. Follow-up after a median of 18 21 months yielded an overall in-stent restenosis rate of 23 % and a recurring clinical symptoms rate of 20 % whereas both endpoints were closely associated as 83 % of patients with recurring symptoms showed significant restenosis. Concerning the stent type, BMS-SE were associated with a significant higher in-stent restenosis rate compared to balloon-expandable stents (p = 0.012), and although not statistically significant, there was a clear trend towards a lower in-stent restenosis rate in drug-eluting compared to bare-metal stents (p = 0.068).; CONCLUSIONS: In patients with symptomatic extracranial vertebral artery disease, stenting is a safe and effective treatment option whereas balloon-expandable stents, and particularly drug-eluting stents, are superior to self-expanding stents

Radial artery applanation tonometry for continuous noninvasive arterial blood pressure monitoring in the cardiac intensive care unit.

Hemodynamic monitoring plays a pivotal role in the treatment of patients in the cardiac intensive care unit (CICU). The innovative radial artery applanation tonometry technology allows for continuous noninvasive arterial blood pressure (AP) measurement. By closing the gap between continuous invasive AP monitoring (arterial catheter) and intermittent noninvasive AP monitoring (oscillometry) this technology might improve CICU patient monitoring. We therefore aimed to evaluate the measurement performance of radial artery applanation tonometry in comparison with a radial arterial catheter in CICU patients.In this prospective method comparison study, we simultaneously recorded AP noninvasively with radial artery applanation tonometry (T-line 200 pro device; Tensys Medical Inc., San Diego, CA, USA) and invasively with an arterial catheter (criterion standard) in 30 patients treated in the CICU of a German university hospital. We statistically analyzed 7,304 averaged 10-beat epochs of measurements of mean AP, systolic AP, and diastolic AP by using Bland-Altman analysis for repeated measurements.Our study revealed a mean difference ± standard deviation (95% limits of agreement; percentage error) between radial artery applanation tonometry and the criterion standard method (radial arterial catheter) of +2 ± 6 mmHg (-10 to +14 mmHg; 17%) for mean AP, -6 ± 11 mmHg (-28 to +15 mmHg; 20%) for systolic AP, and +4 ± 7 mmHg (-9 to +17 mmHg; 23%) for diastolic AP.In CICU patients, continuous noninvasive measurement of AP using radial artery applanation tonometry is feasible. The technology showed reasonable accuracy and precision in comparison with radial arterial catheter-derived AP values

Safety and efficacy of different stent types for the endovascular therapy of extracranial vertebral artery disease.

This study aims to determine safety and efficacy of different stent types for extracranial vertebral artery stenting (EVAS) at a single-center institution.Although endovascular revascularization techniques are well established for a variety of arterial vessel territories, its role within the vertebrobasilar system is less well defined.We retrospectively analyzed all EVAS procedures performed at our institution between 1997 and 2012.A total of 35 EVAS procedures were attempted in 35 patients with symptomatic occlusive extracranial vertebral artery (EVA) disease. Carotid self-expanding bare-metal stents (BMS-SE; n = 18), coronary balloon-expandable bare-metal stents (BMS-BE; n = 7) or drug-eluting stents (DES-BE; n = 16) were used according to physician's choice. The overall technical and clinical success rate was 100 and 94 %, respectively. Periprocedural complications included one death 14 days after intervention due to complications of initial stroke and 3 (9 %) patients with access site complications. Follow-up after a median of 18 ± 21 months yielded an overall in-stent restenosis rate of 23 % and a recurring clinical symptoms rate of 20 % whereas both endpoints were closely associated as 83 % of patients with recurring symptoms showed significant restenosis. Concerning the stent type, BMS-SE were associated with a significant higher in-stent restenosis rate compared to balloon-expandable stents (p = 0.012), and although not statistically significant, there was a clear trend towards a lower in-stent restenosis rate in drug-eluting compared to bare-metal stents (p = 0.068).In patients with symptomatic extracranial vertebral artery disease, stenting is a safe and effective treatment option whereas balloon-expandable stents, and particularly drug-eluting stents, are superior to self-expanding stents

Combination of factor Xa inhibition and antiplatelet therapy after stenting in patients with iliofemoral post-thrombotic venous obstruction.

Studies addressing optimal postprocedural pharmacological management after endovascular stenting of iliofemoral post-thrombotic venous obstruction are lacking. We report our early clinical experience with a combination of rivaroxaban and clopidogrel in patients after iliofemoral post-thrombotic venous obstruction stenting.Demographic, procedural, and follow-up data of nine patients (seven women; mean age of 32 ± 11 years) undergoing 10 procedures for iliofemoral post-thrombotic venous obstruction performed between August 2012 and January 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. After endovascular intervention, all patients were administered 20 mg rivaroxaban once daily (s.i.d.) and 75 mg clopidogrel s.i.d. or every second day depending on the individual drug responsiveness for at least six months. The adenosine diphosphate-induced platelet aggregation (platelet aggregation, in aggregation units × min) was assessed on a Multiplate analyzer. Patency was verified venographically at procedure end and was evaluated with duplex ultrasound in regular follow-ups.Iliofemoral venous flow was successfully re-established by percutaneous endovascular angioplasty and stent implantation in nine left-sided and one bilateral iliofemoral post-thrombotic venous obstruction. Under dual treatment strategy of rivaroxaban and clopidogrel with platelet aggregation control (median (range): 285 aggregation units × min (192; 402)), none of the patients experienced restenosis or stent thrombosis, respectively. After a median follow-up of 14 months (range: 6-26 months), the primary patency rate was 100% and no in-stent restenosis, stent occlusion or relevant minor or major bleeding occurred.Combined factor Xa inhibition and tailored antiplatelet therapy after stenting of iliofemoral post-thrombotic venous obstruction were safe and performed favorably in terms of vessel patency

Bare metal vs. drug-eluting stents for extracranial vertebral artery disease: a meta-analysis of nonrandomized comparative studies.

To compare through meta-analysis the use of drug-eluting stents (DES) vs. bare metal stents (BMS) in the treatment of extracranial vertebral artery (EVA) disease.A literature search of the PubMed database was conducted to identify English-language articles in which both BMS and DES stenting were performed for EVA stenosis by the same investigator(s). Further, eligible studies had to provide data on in-stent restenosis during follow-up. The search identified 9 nonrandomized studies that met the inclusion criteria. The random effects model was employed to pool data. Meta-regression analyses were performed to evaluate the relationships between risk of restenosis and the age of patients, the length of follow-up, or the percentage of male patients.Reported technical success was high (range 99.2%-100%) and comparable for BMS [100% (276/276)] and DES [99.4% (166/167)]. The use of DES was associated with significantly lower (p<0.0001) overall restenosis rates [8.2% (14/170) over follow-up periods averaging 16 to 43 months] compared to BMS [23.7% (68/287) over mean follow-up periods of 19 to 46 months]. Moreover, DES showed significantly lower symptomatic restenosis rates as compared to BMS [4.7% (8/169) for DES vs. 11.6% (32/275) for BMS; p=0.005]. There was no change in the risk of restenosis for any factor explored in the meta-regression analysis.This meta-analysis demonstrates that the use of DES for extracranial vertebral artery stenting significantly reduces both the rate of restenosis and recurrence of symptoms as compared to BMS. In future, randomized trials are needed to support these findings