Carotid Stent: Device-Specific Complications With the Wallstent

Introduction

The Carotid Wallstent (Boston Scientific, Marlborough, MA) is one of the most used stents in the endovascular treatment of carotid stenosis, particularly because of its design, which allows excellent plaque coverage. For that reason, it seems adequate for the treatment not only of stable uncomplicated plaques but also of dishomogenous stenosis. Although the advantages given in terms of plaque coverage are significant, as shown by the diminished rate of postprocedural events compared with open cell stents, the conformability is reduced, with a higher rate of malapposition of the struts. Moreover, the rigidity of the device and the interaction between the metallic struts lead to other possible problems, which are, however, extremely limited in terms of frequency and overall clinical impact as we will see in this chapter.