Background: The use of carotid artery stenting with embolic protection has been practiced for over a decade in the United States, and increasingly so since carotid stenting received FDA approval in 2004. While there have been attempts at establishing predictors of outcomes in carotid artery stenting, they have generally been limited to single center experiences and/or multicenter retrospective surveys. This report examines predictors of outcomes in carotid stenting in the earliest and largest prospective multicenter neurologist-adjudicated experience in the United States post device approval.
Methods: The Carotid Acculink/Accunet Post-Approval Trial to Uncover Unanticipated or Rare Events (CAPTURE) is a prospective, multi-center registry conducted to assess outcomes of carotid artery stenting (CAS) in the noninvestigational setting following device approval for high surgical risk patients (symptomatic with > or =50% stenosis; asymptomatic > or =80% stenosis). A neurologist examined the patients before the procedure, at 24 hr and 30-days post-procedure. The primary endpoint was a composite of death, any stroke, or myocardial infarction within 30-days post-procedure. Strokes and neurological events suspected to be strokes were adjudicated by an independent Clinical Events Adjudication Committee (CEAC) using prespecified definitions. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine clinical, procedural, and anatomic predictors of endpoint outcomes.
Results: Three thousand five hundred patients were enrolled at 144 sites by 353 physicians of varying specialty backgrounds and CAS experience. The 30-day primary endpoint event rate of death, stroke and MI was 6.3% [95% CI: 5.5-7.1%], and the rate of major stroke and death 2.9% [95% CI: 2.4-3.5]. Predictors of adverse outcomes included age, symptomatic patients, predilation prior to embolic protection device placement, time from symptoms to CAS procedure, and the use of multiple stents.
Conclusions: In general, carotid stenting is performed safely in patients with severe stenosis at high surgical risk, with best outcomes in younger asymptomatic patients. However, there are certain patient and procedural characteristics that are associated with poorer outcomes. In these patients, the risk of stenting should be considered vis-à-vis both the anticipated benefit as well as the alternative surgical and medical options.
Copyright 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.