Rupture of the extracranial carotid artery is a rare, but potentially disastrous event. We aimed to review the clinical presentations and radiologic findings of this entity and to evaluate the efficacy of endovascular treatment with covered stent graft.

Since January 2009, eight patients with extracranial carotid artery rupture received endovascular treatment with covered stent graft. We retrospectively reviewed their medical records and radiologic findings.

The ruptured sites were in the common carotid artery (n=5), cervical ICA (n=2) and petrous ICA (n=1), respectively. The causes of injury included spontaneous (n=2), carotid blowout syndrome (CBS) (n=2), iatrogenic (n=2) and traumatic (n=2). Technical success and immediate hemostasis were achieved in all cases. Procedure-related complications occurred in 3 patients (37.5%). In a patient, the ipsilateral angular branch of the MCA was occluded during the procedure and it was completely reopened via mechanical thrombectomy without any neurologic deficit. Minor cerebral infarction was developed in 2 patients (25%). During a mean follow-up of 334 days (range 3–2053 days), two patients died: one from recurrent CBS and the other from aspiration pneumonia.

The covered stent grafting is an effective method for the treatment of extracranial carotid artery rupture.