ABSTRACT
Cerebrovascular Program, Department of Neurology and Neurosciences, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A.
1. INTRODUCTION
Carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS) is rapidly evolving as an alternative to carotid endarterectomy (CEA) in the primary and secondary prevention of stroke from carotid atherovascular disease (1-6). Although endovascular treatment of carotid stenosis was first reported 20 years back (7-10), and has undergone rapid development in the last few years (11-16), there are still plenty of controversies surrounding this procedure. There are controversies regarding who should undergo CAS vs. CEA, whether embolic protection devices need to be used every time CAS is performed, what type of antithrombotic agent should be used before, during, and after the procedure, and other procedural details. In this chapter, we address some of these controversies using currently published literature.
