A 71-year-old man with acute basilar artery occlusion was referred for endovascular treatment 6 hours after the onset of stroke with a Glasgow Coma Score of 3 and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale of 27. A cerebral arteriogram revealed occlusion of the left vertebral artery proximally and thromboembolic occlusion of the basilar tip. Direct aspiration and mechanical thrombectomy with various stent retrievers failed to reconstitute arterial flow in the basilar artery. Thrombolysis in cerebral infarction 2b recanalization was achieved only after placement of double Catch Mini stent retrievers through 2 microcatheters, on both side branches of the basilar bifurcation in a kissing fashion and retrieving them simultaneously. It was possible to perform this maneuver through a single distal access catheter without any complications. On follow-up the patient awakened and was able to follow commands on his right side. To our knowledge, dual mechanical thrombectomy with stent retrievers has not been reported in the posterior circulation previously. This technique may be useful in retrieving thrombi located at major intracranial bifurcations of the posterior circulation which do not recanalize with standard mechanical thrombectomy procedures. Although bilateral access to the basilar artery through both vertebral arteries is an advantage in posterior circulation for this technique, dual mechanical thrombectomy can also be performed through a unilateral access.
Aged ; Basilar Artery ; Catheters ; Cerebral Infarction ; Coma ; Endovascular Procedures ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intracranial Embolism and Thrombosis ; National Institutes of Health (U.S.) ; Stents ; Stroke* ; Thrombectomy* ; Thrombolytic Therapy ; Vertebral Artery

PURPOSE: A self-expandable nitinol stent (WingSpan stent; Boston Scientific Corp.) was introduced for the treatment of intracranial stenoses. The purpose of this study is to present our initial experience with the WingSpan stent for the treatment of atherosclerotic stenoses of the cerebral arteries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Consecutive 37 patients (mean age: 66.8 years, 17 men and 20 women) with symptomatic severe stenoses (>50%) of various anatomic sites were treated with WingSpan stent (BSC). Treatment result was evaluated in terms of technical success rate, intra-procedural event, and clinical course. Neurological morbidity and mortality rates were obtained. Arterial patency was evaluated with the 6 month follow-up angiography. Restenosis over 50% was regarded as significant. RESULTS: The technical success rate was 97.3% (36/37). Flow-limiting vasospasm or dissection after balloon angioplasty (n=3), misplacement of the stent (n=3), and acute in-stent thrombosis (n=1) were occurred. The initial stenosis before the procedure (71.7%) was improved after balloon angioplasty (39.8%) and after subsequent stent placement (20.0%). There were four neurological events during periprocedural period. Those were two TIA, one minor stroke, and one major stroke. The periprocedural morbidity rate was 5.4%. One mortality was the case of progression of previous brainstem infarction. Six-month-follow-up angiography was available in 16 patients and in-stent restenosis was noted in 7 (43.8%). CONCLUSION: WingSpan stents could be delivered to the target lesions without difficulty. However, the system showed technical problems such as misplacement. Restenosis seemed not infrequent on our limited follow-up observations.
Angiography ; Angioplasty ; Angioplasty, Balloon ; Brain Stem Infarctions ; Cerebral Arteries ; Constriction, Pathologic* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Mortality ; Stents* ; Stroke ; Thrombosis