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Case Reports
. 2015 Feb;21(1):72-9.
doi: 10.15274/inr-2014-10099.

Rare complication characterized by late-onset transient neurological symptoms without hyperperfusion after carotid artery stenting: A report of three cases

Yutaka Fukushima  1 , Ichiro Nakahara  2 , Tsuyoshi Ohta  2 , Shoji Matsumoto  2 , Ryota Ishibashi  2 , Masanori Gomi  2 , Haruka Miyata  2 , Hidehisa Nishi  2 , Sadayoshi Watanabe  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Rare complication characterized by late-onset transient neurological symptoms without hyperperfusion after carotid artery stenting: A report of three cases

Yutaka Fukushima et al. Interv Neuroradiol. 2015 Feb.

Abstract

We experienced a rare complication after carotid artery stenting (CAS) characterized by transient neurological symptoms with no evidence of distal emboli or hyperperfusion. Using neuroimaging, we investigated the pathogenesis of the complication that occurred after CAS in three patients who developed neurological symptoms over a period of ten hours after CAS and improved within two days. None of the three patients showed signs of fresh infarctions on diffusion-weighted imaging or hyperperfusion on single-photon emission computed tomography. However, high signal intensity was observed in the leptomeningeal zone of the cerebral hemisphere on the stent side in all three patients and in the leptomeningeal zone of the contralateral anterior cerebral artery territory in one patient. These areas were assessed using fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) magnetic resonance imaging without gadolinium administration. The high signal intensity in the leptomeningeal zone disappeared as the symptoms improved. Based on the transient nature of the neurological disorders and the normalization of FLAIR imaging findings in these patients, the pathogenesis of this complication might have been vasogenic edema due to vasoparalysis of the local vessels caused by the hemodynamic changes occurring after CAS.

Keywords: Blood-brain barrier; FLAIR MRI; carotid artery stenting; reversible vasoparalysis.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Case 1. A) Postprocedural fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) magnetic resonance (MR) image showing no abnormal findings after 11 h. B) A dense hyperintense region in the leptomeningeal zone after 24 h. C) Disappearance of the hyperintense lesions after 48 h.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Case 2. A) Postprocedural FLAIR MR image showing no abnormal findings after 11 h. B) A dense hyperintense region in the leptomeningeal zone after 20 h. C) Disappearance of the hyperintense lesions after 35 h.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Case 3. A) Postprocedural FLAIR MR image showing no abnormal findings after 12 h. B) Adense hyperintense region in the leptomeningeal zone after 18 h. C) Disappearance of the hyperintense lesions after 40 h.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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