Long-term Outcomes of Drug-eluting Stents in Symptomatic Intracranial Stenosis / 신경중재치료의학

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The use of drug-eluting stent (DES) to treat intracranial stenosis has shown short-term success. However, there are no reports regarding the long-term results of DES. We present the long-term clinical outcome after DES stenting for symptomatic severe intracranial stenosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our study included a consecutive series of 11 patients who underwent intracranial stenting using DES between March and July, 2006, during the time when bare metal stents were not available at our medical institution. The mean patient age was 59 years. Lesion location was the middle cerebral artery in five patients, the intradural vertebral artery in three, the basilar artery in one, the vertebrobasilar junction in one, and the cavernous internal cerebral artery in one patient. We evaluated the technical success, defined as reduction of residual stenosis or =50% at during the mean follow-up period of 55 months. One patient died of a sudden heart attack 59 months following the procedure which was regarded as unrelated to the cerebral lesion. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates that DES shows long-term stability and safety, and results in good clinical outcomes with a low rate of restenosis.