Stroke recurrence rates among patients with symptomatic intracranial vertebrobasilar stenoses: systematic review and meta-analysis.

A recent randomized trial of patients with primarily anterior circulation intracranial artery stenosis showed that intensive medical therapy was superior to intracranial stenting in preventing recurrent stroke. The rate of stroke recurrence or death in symptomatic intracranial vertebrobasilar stenosis with medical therapy alone may be especially high, and rates compared with endovascular therapy need further study.