Carotid stenting with distal protection in high surgical risk patients: The BEACH trial 30 day results

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Abstract
Background: The BEACH trial evaluated the outcomes of carotid artery stent placement with distal emboli protection, using the Carotid Wallstent® and the FilterWire EX®/EZTM, in patients at high surgical risk for carotid endarterectomy (CEA). Methods: We enrolled 747 patients at high surgical risk for CEA due to prespecified anatomical criteria and/or medical comorbidities. The trial included both symptomatic (>50% carotid artery stenosis) as well as asymptomatic (>80% carotid artery stenosis) high surgical risk patients. Three groups of patients were included in the trial. The Roll‐in (R) group (n = 189/747, [25%]) included up to nine patients per site for familiarization of the device and protocol; the Pivotal (P) group (n = 480/747, [65%]) was intended for presentation to the FDA for consideration of device approval; and a Bilateral (B) registry group (n = 78/747, [10%]) was included because of the need to treat patients with bilateral carotid artery disease. In the 480 Pivotal patients, anatomic criteria represented the most frequent high‐risk surgical category for enrollment (58.8%), followed by prior CEA (34.2%), multivessel (≥2) coronary artery disease (21.7%), and contralateral carotid occlusion (18.1%). Results: The technical success rate for stent deployment and FilterWire EX/EZ deployment and retrieval was 98.2%. The mean postprocedure angiographic diameter stenosis in the Pivotal group was reduced to 10.8%, while the overall procedure success rate (P = 0.42). Conclusion: The similarity in periprocedural event rates for the Pivotal and Roll‐in groups suggests a flat learning curve for experienced operators using this carotid stent system. The similarity in event rates for the Bilateral group, when compared with the Roll‐in and Pivotal groups, suggests that staged sequential treatment of bilateral stenoses may be performed at the same risk as for unilateral lesions. The 30‐day safety of this stent and distal emboli protection system is encouraging and compares favorably with other carotid stent trials in high surgical risk patients.