Figure 1.

Variability of carotid artery stenting (CAS) without the use of embolic protection devices (EPD) by operator (A). (B) Shows factors significantly associated with EPD use using the multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression with operator nested within the center as random effects. The model was adjusted for age, race, ethnicity, primary insurer, living at home, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease, previous stroke or TIA, prior carotid endarterectomy or stenting, GDMT, high-risk carotid endarterectomy, preoperative duplex, preoperative CT or MRI, preoperative angiography, the urgency of the procedure, number of lesions, atherosclerotic lesion, restenotic lesion, dissection, other types of lesions, side of lesion, lesion at the bifurcation, lesion at the common carotid artery, and year of surgery. FMD, fibromuscular dysplasia; GDMT, guideline-directed medical therapy; mOR, median odds ratio; Q1-Q3; interquartile range; TIA, transient ischemic attack.