Operation
Endovascular stenting is a modern minimally invasive surgery aimed at eliminating artery narrowing and restoring normal blood supply to the brain.
This intervention can be used even in elderly people, in the presence of concomitant diseases, when open surgery is contraindicated. Artery stenting is performed under local anesthesia through a single puncture of the skin and artery. The operation is performed in an X-ray operating room under constant X-ray control.
A special X-ray contrast instrument is inserted into the lumen of the artery and placed at the site of its narrowing. If necessary, the stenosis site is pre-expanded with a balloon.
After that, a stent (a metal mesh “spring”) is installed, which expands the narrowed area of the vessel and strengthens its walls. After stent installation, a control cerebral angiography is performed, and the delivery instruments are removed. After the operation, long-term administration of clopidogrel and aspirin is required, which prevent the formation of blood clots in the lumen of the stent.
Advantages
Endovascular surgery techniques have a number of advantages over traditional interventional methods:
- Endovascular diagnostic and therapeutic interventions are performed on an outpatient basis or require several days of hospitalization.
- General anesthesia is not required in the vast majority of cases.
- Surgical risk, pain syndrome, and recovery time are significantly reduced compared to traditional surgery.
- Less risk of complications.
- Endovascular interventions are usually less expensive than traditional surgical procedures.
The lack of need for general anesthesia allows operations to be performed even on patients with severe concomitant diseases for whom traditional surgical treatment is contraindicated.
The main advantage of this surgical procedure is that it is minimally invasive. To insert the stent, a small (2-4 mm) puncture of the skin is required at the catheter insertion site.
Stenting very rarely causes complications. After the operation, the patient recovers quickly and soon returns to normal life. And, importantly, stenting has good long-term results.
