Summary

The Interventional Procedures Advisory Committee (IPAC) has considered this procedure and NICE has issued a consultation document about its safety and efficacy. Consultation has now ended. IPAC will consider the consultation comments and produce a Final Interventional Procedures Document, which will be considered by NICE before guidance is issued to the NHS in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The consultation period for this procedure closed on the 21st January 2011.

If you wish to be updated to any developments with this procedure, you can express an interest here.

NICE is also consulting on the following procedure: Carotid artery stent placement for symptomatic extracranial carotid stenosis

Description

The main arteries in the neck (the carotid arteries) can become narrowed or blocked by fatty deposits. Fragments of these fatty deposits can become detached from the walls of the carotid artery and lodged in thinner arteries that supply blood to parts of the brain, causing a transient ischaemic attack (TIA, sometimes called a ‘mini stroke’) or a stroke. Patients who have this narrowing but have had no health problems resulting from it are described as ‘asymptomatic’.

In this procedure a metal mesh called a stent is used to widen the narrowed carotid artery. This procedure does not involve making a cut in the neck. Instead a fine wire is inserted into an artery in the leg and passed up into the carotid artery, and the stent is then moved into place along the wire. Some stenting also includes protective devices, to help to prevent any fragments loosened by the stent insertion from reaching smaller arteries and causing a stroke.

Details

Contact details:

Links:

	Carotid artery stent placement for asymptomatic extracranial carotid stenosis - Consultation Document	20 December 2010
	Carotid artery stent placement for asymptomatic extracranial carotid stenosis - Overview	21 December 2010