Intracranial deployment of coronary stents for symptomatic atherosclerotic disease.

Intracranial percutaneous transluminal balloon angioplasty (PTA) has been used as a technique of last resort in the treatment of intracranial atherosclerotic disease when medical and surgical alternatives have failed or cannot be applied. The major risks associated with PTA include intracranial vessel rupture and abrupt vessel dissection causing occlusion. Angioplasty techniques in the extracranial circulation have been improved by the development of safe stent technology in combination with potent antiplatelet agents. We report three successful cases of symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic disease in middle-aged adults treated by endovascular PTA followed by deployment of coronary stents.