Short and Long-Term Effect of Carotid Artery Stenting on Arterial Blood Pressure Measured through Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the short and long-term effects of carotid artery stenting (CAS) procedure on blood pressure (BP) through ambulatory BP monitoring. Methods: One hundred fifty three patients who underwent CAS for primary or secondary protection from December 2010 to September 2013 were enrolled to our study. The BP levels of total of 123 patients were monitored for 1 year. Thereafter, the pre-procedure levels of BP were compared with BP levels at the 24-hour and the first year intervals after the procedure. Results: Systolic and diastolic BP levels at the 24-hour and the first year intervals after CAS were significantly lower than the pre-procedure BP levels. The mean 24-hour systolic BP was 113 +/- 13 mmHg and diastolic BP was 63 +/- 8 mmHg, both of which were significantly lower (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001 respectively), while the pre-procedure mean systolic BP was 133 +/- 10 mmHg and the mean diastolic BP was 75 +/- 9 mmHg. Moreover, the mean first-year systolic BP was 125 +/- 10 mmHg with a decline of 8 +/- 8 mmHg and mean diastolic BP was 71 +/- 8 mmHg with a decline of 4 +/- 7 mmHg, both of which were again significantly lower compared to the pre-procedure levels (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001 respectively). Conclusions: The results of our study suggested that systolic and diastolic BP levels diminished after CAS. Additionally, BP reduction continued even 1 year after the CAS.