Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To explore the treatment effect and complication prevention of various stent materials for intracranial arteriostenosis.
METHODS: A computer-based online search of Science Direct and Ei database (1998-01/2009-10) was performed for English articles with the key words of “intracranial arteriostenosis, stent placement”. In addition, CNKI and CBM database (1998-01/2009-10) were searched for related Chinese articles with the same key words in Chinese. Moreover, related works were manually searched. Studies regarding various stent materials for intracranial arteriostenosis were included, including basic and clinical experiments.
RESULTS: Multicenter studies of worldwide show that stent implantation displays obvious advantages in treating carotid artery stenosis compared with carotid endarterectomy. Recently, with developing of balloon and stent compliance, as well as stent technology, and application of various novel materials and cerebral protection device, stent has become a safe and effective therapy for intracranial arteriostenosis. However, complications following stent implantation, such as restenosis, ischemic stroke, cerebral hemorrhage hypertransfusion syndrome, and cerebral angiospasm, limit its application.
CONCLUSION: The safety and efficacy of intracranial stent implantation remains validation of multicenter and perspective studies. High incidence of restenosis following stent implantation requires further improvement.