ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of carotid artery stenting (CAS) on cognitive function in patients with asymptomatic severe carotid artery stenosis.Methods The patients with asymptomatic severe carotid stenosis (stenosis ≥ 70％) were enrolled in the study.The cognitive function evaluation was performed before CAS,1 and 3 months after procedure respectively with mini-mental status scale (MMSE),digital span (DS),Chinese auditory learning test (CALT),judgment of line orientation test (JLOT),and verbal fluency test (VFT),including attention,memory,visual spatial function,and frontal fluency function.Results A total of 26 patients with asymptomatic severe carotid artery stenosis who performed CAS were enrolled,18 were males and 8 were females (aged 52 to 79 years,mean 64.19 ±6.76 years),and the years of education was 9.84 ± 3.29 years.Eighteen patients had left carotid artery stenosis and 8 had contralateral carotid artery stenosis.CAS was performed successfully in all patients,and no complications occurred.Compared with the CAS before procedure,all the cognitive functions were improved significantly at 1 and 3 months after procedure (all P ＜0.01),however,there was no significant difference between 1 and 3 months after procedure (all P＞ 0.05).Conclusions CAS may improve cognitive function in patients with asymptomatic severe carotid artery stenosis,and it was more obvious in the early postoperative period.