Why is carotid stenting so controversial?
Carotid stenting is a very controversial subject, because many of us who’ve dealt with carotid disease all our professional lives feel that the carotid stent field has been realized as an area of opportunity by cardiologists and others who never had any interest in carotid disease, other than a passing one. And now these individuals are the ones who are promoting carotid stenting as being proven effective. Carotid stenting has been around for several years. It was my group that first did the work that showed when you put a stent and a balloon in an artery, you break off particles that get swept upstream or downstream to the brain. That led to all these embolic protection devices that are sweeping the country, which people think intuitively are good things. There were several speakers [at the symposium] who questioned that and pointed out some of the disadvantages of the cerebral protection devices. Haven’t the cerebral protection devices been shown effective? The study that was publish
