TY - JOUR T1 - Intracranial Angioplasty without Stenting for Symptomatic Atherosclerotic Stenosis: Long-Term Follow-up JF - American Journal of Neuroradiology JO - Am. J. Neuroradiol. SP - 525 LP - 530 VL - 26 IS - 3 AU - Michael P. Marks AU - Mary L. Marcellus AU - Huy M. Do AU - Pamela K. Schraedley-Desmond AU - Gary K. Steinberg AU - David C. Tong AU - Gregory W. Albers Y1 - 2005/03/01 UR - http://www.ajnr.org/content/26/3/525.abstract N2 - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Angioplasty and stent placement have been reported for the treatment of intracranial stenosis. This study was undertaken to assess the efficacy and long-term clinical outcome of angioplasty without stent placement for patients with symptomatic intracranial stenosis.METHODS: A retrospective study was done to evaluate 36 patients with 37 symptomatic atherosclerotic intracranial stenosis who underwent primary balloon angioplasty. All patients had symptoms despite medical therapy. Thirty-four patients were available for follow-up ranging from 6 to 128 months. Mean follow-up was 52.9 months.RESULTS: Mean pretreatment stenosis was 84.2% before angioplasty and 43.3% after angioplasty. The periprocedural death and stroke rate was 8.3% (two deaths and one minor stroke). Two patients had strokes in the territory of angioplasty at 2 and 37 months after angioplasty. The annual stroke rate in the territory appropriate to the site of angioplasty was 3.36%, and for those patients with a residual stenosis of ≥50% it was 4.5%. Patients with iatrogenic dissection (n = 11) did not have transient ischemic attacks or strokes after treatment.CONCLUSION: Results of long-term follow-up suggest that intracranial angioplasty without stent placement reduces the risk of further stroke in symptomatic patients. ER -