Editor's Choice - Predictors of New Ischaemic Brain Lesions on Diffusion Weighted Imaging After Carotid Stenting and Endarterectomy: A Systematic Review.

Objectives: Peri-procedural ischaemic brain lesions on diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) after carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid artery stenting (CAS) have been related to a higher chance of recurrent cerebrovascular events. This systematic review provides an overview of patient characteristics associated with increased risk of new DWI lesions.

Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane library databases were systematically searched (update November 2018) for studies reporting post-procedural DWI lesions after CEA or CAS. Data derived from both procedures were analysed separately. Studies reporting predictive features that were present prior to intervention were assigned to 10 categories: age, gender, cardiovascular risk factors, symptomatology, plaque vulnerability, atherosclerotic burden, cerebrovascular haemodynamics, carotid/arch anatomy, inflammatory markers, and markers of coagulation. A semi-quantitative analysis was performed by plotting studies that found an association between the investigated features and DWI lesions against those that did not find an association.

Results: Forty-six studies (5018 patients) were included: 10 reported only CEA, 33 CAS, and three both interventions. 68.0% of 1873 CEA patients and 55.9% of 3145 CAS patients were symptomatic. The weighted prevalence of DWI lesions was 18.1% (95% CI 14.0-22.7%) in CEA patients compared with 40.5% (95% CI 35.4-45.7%) in CAS patients. Studies reporting on CEA patients predominantly found an increased risk in symptomatic patients (two of seven studies, including 848/1661 patients), those with impaired haemodynamics (five of five studies), and increased inflammatory markers (two of three studies). Studies reporting on CAS patients often found a positive association with age (10/26 studies), high plaque vulnerability (25/34 studies), or complex carotid/arch anatomy (three out of five studies).

Conclusions: For patients undergoing CEA, symptomatic status, impeded cerebral haemodynamics, and increased inflammatory markers are associated with increased susceptibility to peri-operative DWI lesions. In CAS patients, higher age, plaque vulnerability and complex carotid/aortic arch anatomy were identified as risk factors. These clinical predictors may assist with decision making on patient selection for medical treatment, CEA or CAS.