ABSTRACT

Although carotid percutaneous intervention using angioplasty alone was first pioneered in the late 1970s and early 1980s by Mathias and colleagues,1,2 the field was launched with the advent of stents3-5 which provided a more secure initial result, and probably more robust long-term patency rates. Subsequent publications of single-center experiences6 demonstrated enough of a safety and efficacy ‘signal’ with off-the-shelf equipment, which by today’s standards are considered primitive, to continue exploring this alternative.