Recanalization of symptomatic carotid artery dissections causing occlusion with multiple stents: the use of delayed double-contrast road map.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Internal carotid artery dissections (ICADs) with occlusion present with a high morbidity and mortality. No specific medical treatment has proven to be effective in this setting. In selected cases of ICAD with occlusion, stent-assisted angioplasty has been shown to be effective in restoring the perfusion. Spontaneous ICAD causing occlusion successfully recanalized with multiple telescoped stents extending intracranially has only been reported exceptionally. METHODS: We report cases of symptomatic acute carotid occlusion after spontaneous dissection extending from the cervical to the petrocavernous ICA segments. Imaging studies revealed the presence of an extensive penumbra area in every case. Patients were treated by means of multiple stents deployed in a telescoped fashion with the aid of a delayed double-contrast road map. RESULTS: Post-procedural angiography demonstrated restitution of the carotid lumen with no signs of residual dissection or intracranial emboli. The patients improved rapidly, showing no residual neurological deficit after a week. At follow-up, patients are clinically asymptomatic and the vessel is patent with no radiological signs of myointimal hyperplasia. CONCLUSIONS: The successful angiographic and clinical results observed in our cases of extraintracranial stenting of a long carotid dissection causing occlusion contribute to the literature of carotid dissection treated with multiple stents.