Wingspan Stenting for Symptomatic Severe Stenosis of Intracranial Atherosclerosis Registry in China (WingspanSSIR)

Inclusion Criteria:

• An angiographically verified ≥ 70% stenosis of a major intracranial artery that causes TIA or minor stroke (NIH Stroke Scale score <9) within 90 days;
• the lesion length <15 mm and normal arterial diameter adjacent to it between 2.0 mm and 4.5 mm;
• patients having at least one atherosclerotic risk factor (arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hyperhomocysteinemia and cigarette smoking).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Non-atherosclerotic stenosis;
• intracranial hemorrhage in the territory of the stenotic artery within 6 weeks; potential source of cardiac embolism;
• concurrent intracranial tumor, aneurysm and cerebral arteriovenous malformation;
• tandem >50% stenosis of extracranial carotid or vertebral artery; known contraindication to heparin, aspirin, clopidogrel, anesthesia and contrast media; hemoglobin <10 g/dl, platelet count <100,000;
• international normalized ratio >1.5 (irreversible) and uncorrectable bleeding diathesis; and life expectancy <1 years because of other medical conditions.