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Carotid artery stenting has emerged as an alternative to endarterectomy for patients with symptomatic or asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis. The results of recent studies clarify the role of this procedure.
In the International Carotid Stenting Study (ICSS), a multicenter randomized trial involving more than 1700 patients with symptomatic carotid artery stenosis who were randomized to undergo stenting or endarterectomy, risk for stroke or death within 120 days following randomization was significantly greater in the stenting group (8.5%) than in the endarterectomy group (4.0%). In a substudy, new ischemic brain lesions detected by magnetic resonance imaging were significantly more common in the stenting group (50%) than in the endarterecto…