Carotid artery stenting using proximal balloon occlusion embolic protection.

Carotid artery stenting has rapidly grown as an alternative to carotid endarterectomy for stroke prevention among selected patients with extracranial carotid artery stenosis. Development of mechanical embolic protection devices (EPDs) has been associated with improved clinical outcomes and is now a strongly advocated adjunct to the procedure. Characteristically, EPDs have been broadly defined into 3 primary categories, of which the distal filter elements have largely been the most developed and used. Improvements among the class of proximal balloon occlusion devices with flow reversal have a number of theoretic advantages and are the focus of this review article.