Tag: stenting

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Venous Sinus Stenting for Low Pressure Gradient Stenoses in Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension

Neurosurgery 91:734–740, 2022

Medically refractory idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is frequently treated with venous sinus stenosis stenting with high success rates. Patient selection has been driven almost exclusively by identification of supraphysiological venous pressure gradients across stenotic regions based on theoretical assessment of likelihood of response.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the possibility of benefit in low venous pressure gradient patients.

METHODS: Using a single-center, prospectively maintained registry of patients with IIH undergoing venous stenting, we defined treatment groups by gradient pressures of ≤4, 5 to 8, and >8 mmHg based on the most frequently previously published thresholds for stenting. Baseline demographics, clinical, and neuro-ophthalmological outcomes (including optical coherence tomography and Humphrey visual fields) were compared.

RESULTS: Among 53 patients, the mean age was 32 years and 70% female with a mean body mass index was 36 kg/m2 . Baseline characteristics were similar between groups. The mean change in lumbar puncture opening pressure at 6 months poststenting was similar between the 3 groups (≤4, 5-8, and >8 mmHg; 13.4, 12.9, and 12.4 cmH2 O, P=.47). Papilledema improvement was observed across groups at 6 months (100, 93, and 86, P = .7) as were all clinical symptoms. The mean changes in optical coherence tomography retinal nerve fiber layer (À30, À54, and À104, P = .5) and mean deviation in Humphrey visual fields (60, 64, and 67, P = .5) at 6 weeks were not significantly different.

CONCLUSION: Patients with IH with low venous pressure gradient venous sinus stenosis seem to benefit equally from venous stenting compared with their higher gradient counterparts. Re-evaluation of our restrictive criteria for this potentially vision sparing intervention is warranted. Future prospective confirmatory studies are needed.

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High-Resolution Angioscopic Imaging During Endovascular Neurosurgery

High-Resolution Angioscopic Imaging During Endovascular Neurosurgery

Neurosurgery 75:171–180, 2014

Endoluminal optical imaging, or angioscopy, has not seen widespread application during neurointerventional procedures, largely as a result of the poor imaging resolution of existing angioscopes. Scanning fiber endoscopes (SFEs) are a novel endoscopic platform that allows high-resolution video imaging in an ultraminiature form factor that is compatible with currently used distal access endoluminal catheters.

OBJECTIVE: To test the feasibility and potential utility of high-resolution angioscopy with an SFE during common endovascular neurosurgical procedures.

METHODS: A 3.7-French SFE was used in a porcine model system to image endothelial disruption, ischemic stroke and mechanical thrombectomy, aneurysm coiling, and flowdiverting stent placement.

RESULTS: High-resolution, video-rate imaging was shown to be possible during all of the common procedures tested and provided information that was complementary to standard fluoroscopic imaging. SFE angioscopy was able to assess novel factors such as aneurysm base coverage fraction and side branch patency, which have previously not been possible to determine with conventional angiography.

CONCLUSION: Endovascular imaging with an SFE provides important information on factors that cannot be assessed fluoroscopically and is a novel platform on which future neurointerventional techniques may be based because it allows for periprocedural inspection of the integrity of the vascular system and the deployed devices. In addition, it may be of diagnostic use for inspecting the vascular wall and postprocedure device evaluation.

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Long-term Follow-up of Blister Aneurysms of the Internal Carotid Artery

Blister ICA aneurysm

Neurosurgery 73:1026–1033, 2013

Blister aneurysms of the internal carotid artery (ICA) are uncommon. There is a paucity of data on the long-term outcomes of patients.

OBJECTIVE: To review our experience with the treatment of these lesions.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all aneurysms treated at our institution between 1994 and 2005. Relevant operative notes, radiology reports, and inpatient/ outpatient records were reviewed.

RESULTS: Seventeen patients (3 male, 14 female) with 18 blister aneurysms of the ICA were identified. The mean age was 44.6 years (range, 17-72; median, 42 years). Twelve patients (70.6%) presented with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. The mean admission Glasgow Outcome Scale score was 4.3 (range, 2-5; median, 5). All patients were initially treated using microsurgical technique with direct clipping (n = 15; 83.3%) or clip-wrapping with Gore-Tex (n = 3, 16.7%). There were 4 cases of intraoperative rupture, all associated with attempted direct clipping; all 4 cases were successfully clipped. Two cases rebled post-treatment. Both rebleeding episodes were managed with endovascular stenting. Follow-up angiography was available for 14 patients and revealed a new aneurysm adjacent to the site of clipping in 1 patient and in-stent stenosis in 2. At the mean follow-up of 74.5 months (median, 73; range, 7-165), the mean Glasgow Outcome Scale score was 4.6 (range, 2-5; median, 5).

CONCLUSION: Microsurgical treatment of blister aneurysms of the ICA results in excellent outcome. In the evolution of treating these friable aneurysms, we have modified our clip-wrapping technique and use this technique when direct clipping is not feasible.

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Venous Sinus Pulsatility and the Potential Role of Dural Incompetence in Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension

Neurosurgery 71:877–884, 2012

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) remains a poorly understood and therapeutically challenging disease. Enthusiasm has emerged for endovascular therapy with stent reconstruction of dural sinus narrowing; however, a complete understanding of the hydrodynamic dysequilibrium is lacking.

OBJECTIVE: To review and characterize catheter manometry findings including pulsatility changes within the venous sinuses in IIH.

METHODS: Cases of venous sinus stent implantation for IIH were retrospectively reviewed.

RESULTS: Three cases of venous sinus stent implantation for treatment of IIH are reported. All cases demonstrated severe narrowing (>70%) within the transverse sinus and a high pressure gradient across the lesion (>30 mm Hg). Stent implantation resulted in pulsatility attenuation, correction of pressure gradient, and improvement of flow.

CONCLUSION: We report the finding of high venous sinus pulsatility attenuation after stent implantation for dural sinus narrowing and propose the hypothesis that this finding is a marker of advanced dural sinus incompetence. This characteristic may be useful in identifying patients who would benefit from endovascular stent remodeling.

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New ischaemic brain lesions on MRI after stenting or endarterectomy for symptomatic carotid stenosis: a substudy of the International Carotid Stenting Study (ICSS)

Lancet Neurol 2010; 9: 353–62. DOI:10.1016/S1474- 4422(10)70057-0

The International Carotid Stenting Study (ICSS) of stenting and endarterectomy for symptomatic carotid stenosis found a higher incidence of stroke within 30 days of stenting compared with endarterectomy. We aimed to compare the rate of ischaemic brain injury detectable on MRI between the two groups.

Methods: Patients with recently symptomatic carotid artery stenosis enrolled in ICSS were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive carotid artery stenting or endarterectomy. Of 50 centres in ICSS, seven took part in the MRI substudy. The protocol specified that MRI was done 1–7 days before treatment, 1–3 days after treatment (post-treatment scan), and 27–33 days after treatment. Scans were analysed by two or three investigators who were masked to treatment. The primary endpoint was the presence of at least one new ischaemic brain lesion on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) on the post-treatment scan. Analysis was per protocol. This is a substudy of a registered trial, ISRCTN 25337470.

Findings: 231 patients (124 in the stenting group and 107 in the endarterectomy group) had MRI before and after treatment. 62 (50%) of 124 patients in the stenting group and 18 (17%) of 107 patients in the endarterectomy group had at least one new DWI lesion detected on post-treatment scans done a median of 1 day after treatment (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 5∙21, 95% CI 2∙78–9∙79; p<0∙0001). At 1 month, there were changes on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery sequences in 28 (33%) of 86 patients in the stenting group and six (8%) of 75 in the endarterectomy group (adjusted OR 5·93, 95% CI 2·25–15·62; p=0·0003). In patients treated at a centre with a policy of using cerebral protection devices, 37 (73%) of 51 in the stenting group and eight (17%) of 46 in the endarterectomy group had at least one new DWI lesion on post-treatment scans (adjusted OR 12·20, 95% CI 4·53–32·84), whereas in those treated at a centre with a policy of unprotected stenting, 25 (34%) of 73 patients in the stenting group and ten (16%) of 61 in the endarterectomy group had new lesions on DWI (adjusted OR 2·70, 1·16–6·24; interaction p=0·019).

Interpretation: About three times more patients in the stenting group than in the endarterectomy group had new ischaemic lesions on DWI on post-treatment scans. The difference in clinical stroke risk in ICSS is therefore unlikely to have been caused by ascertainment bias. Protection devices did not seem to be effective in preventing cerebral ischaemia during stenting. DWI might serve as a surrogate outcome measure in future trials of carotid interventions.

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