Assessment of recovery of endovascular stenting in patients with vertebral and basilar artery stenosis by BEAM and transcranial doppler

Objective: Vertebral and basilar artery stenosis is one of the main reasons causing posterior circulation ischemia. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of Brain Electrical Activity Mapping (BEAM) and Transcranial Doppler (TCD) in assessing the functional improvement of the vertebral basilar artery stenosis after endovascular stenting. Methods: Forty patients with vertebral and basilar artery stenosis treated with endovascular stenting and forty normal healthy controls between November 2010 and November 2011 were included in this study. Patients were evaluated with BEAM and TCD preoperatively and 6-months postoperatively. BEAM and TCD results of normal controls were also collected. Results: The function improvement of patients were significantly detected by using brain electrical activity mapping and transcranial doppler. Conclusion: Our findings showed that brain electrical activity mapping and transcranial doppler combined with digital subtraction angiography are valuable in the assessment of the function improvement of the vertebral basilar artery stenosis patients after endovascular stenting.