Stenting from the vertebral artery to the posterior inferior cerebellar artery

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There are only a few reports on the feasibility and safety of stents used in the PICA, and clinical and angiographic follow-up results have not been fully addressed. We report our experiences of treating PICA origin or vertebral artery - PICA lesions by using self-expanding stents as adjuvant or rescue therapy with angiographic and clinical follow-up results. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Six patients were treated with self-expanding stent placements from the vertebral artery to the PICA. Two patients had a vertebral artery dissecting aneurysm involving the PICA origin, 3 had vertebral artery - PICA aneurysms, and 1 had segmental stenosis of the vertebral artery harboring the origin of the PICA. The safety, feasibility, and follow-up angiographic results were retrospectively evaluated. RESULTS: All procedures were successfully performed without any procedure-related complications. None of the patients showed PICA territorial infarction on DWI posttreatment. All patients were neurologically intact during the clinical follow-up of 3-24 months following the procedure. Follow-up angiography was performed at between 6 and 12 months in 5 of the 6 patients and was scheduled for the sixth patient but was not performed. The PICA showed good patency without in-stent stenosis in all 5 patients. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with lesions of the PICA origin or vertebral artery - PICA lesions, vertebral artery-to-PICA stent placement may be an option for preserving PICA patency in selected cases.