Can Periprocedural Hypotension in Carotid Artery Stenting Be Predicted?

Periprocedural hypotension, which frequently occurs during carotid artery stenting (CAS), is an important risk factor for complications such as stroke or death after CAS.

To determine if a scoring model can be established to predict periprocedural hypotension (systolic blood pressure < or = 90 mm Hg) and prolonged periprocedural hypotension (requiring vasopressor for > 3 hours) in CAS, we conducted a prospective cohort study of patients undergoing interventional treatment of cervical carotid artery stenosis in an urban tertiary referral hospital from April 2006 to April 2007.

Forty-eight stenotic lesions in 45 consecutive patients treated with CAS were included in the study. Multivariate analysis showed three independent risk factors of periprocedural hypotension; “fibrous plaque on Virtual Histology” (P = 0.029), “stenotic lesion involving both the common carotid artery and internal carotid artery on angiogram” (P = 0.004), and “patients without history of diabetes mellitus” (P = 0.020). Further, “distance between carotid bifurcation and point of minimum lumen size < or = 10 mm on angiogram” (P = 0.003) was an independent risk factor of prolonged periprocedural hypotension. Carotid morphologic autonomic pathologic score (carotid MAPS), determined by adding one point for each of those risk factors (total 0 to 4), had good discrimination for both periprocedural hypotension (area under receiver operating characteristic curve: ROC AUC = 0.876; SE 0.053) and prolonged periprocedural hypotension (ROC AUC = 0.811; SE 0.066).

Carotid MAPS is useful for predicting periprocedural hypotension and prolonged periprocedural hypotension during CAS.