[Carotid endarterectomies for cerebral ischemia: a follow up study of surgical results and late neurologic complications]

Abstract

Twenty five carotid endarterectomies were performed in 24 patients with cerebral ischemia due to atherosclerosis. Four of these patients were asymptomatic, 7 suffered from hemispheric TIA (hemispheric attack group), 7 suffered from nonhemispheric TIA (nonhemispheric attack group) and other 6 had previous completed stroke (completed stroke group). The average length of follow-up study was two and half years with a range of 2 months to 6 years. Completed strokes occurred in 1 patient following the operation and in 3 patients during the follow-up period (16.7%). Two patients were reoperated upon because of recurrent carotid stenosis (8.3%). Four patients continued to have neurologic symptoms postoperatively. Ultimately 10 of 24 patients had some neurologic complications even following carotid endarterectomies (41.7%). The first postoperative year was the worst period because almost all late neurologic complications occurred in that time. Kaplan-Meier's analysis demonstrated a relatively favorable result in the hemispheric attack group among these 3 groups. The completed stroke group was followed by that and the nonhemispheric attack group was proved to be the worst, although there was no statistical significance.