Carotid endarterectomy remains the standard of care, even in high-risk surgical patients.

OBJECTIVE: This study tested the hypothesis that high-risk patients can undergo carotid endarterectomy without associated increased risk of stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA), or death. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) has clearly been shown to be effective in reducing the risk of stroke in selected symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with extracranial carotid stenosis. However, recently, carotid angioplasty with stenting (CAS) has been suggested as an alternative treatment in high-risk surgical patients.
METHODS: Medical records for consecutive patients who underwent CEA from 1996 to 2001 were reviewed for demographics, medical history, and hospital course. High-risk patients were defined as those experiencing a myocardial infarction (MI) or an exacerbation of congestive heart failure (CHF) within 4 weeks before CEA; unstable angina; steroid-dependent chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); prior ipsilateral CEA, neck dissection or irradiation; high carotid bifurcation; and those with combined cardiac-carotid procedures. Poor postoperative outcome was defined as stroke, TIA, or death within 30 days. Univariate, multivariate, and Kaplan-Meier analysis were used as appropriate.
RESULTS: Four hundred twenty-nine patients underwent 499 CEAs, of which 84 (17%) were considered high risk. The overall stroke-death rate among all patients was 2.8%. A total of 11 postoperative strokes (2.2%), 7 TIAs (1.4%), and 3 deaths (0.6%) occurred within 30 days after surgery. There was no difference in 30-day poor outcome between high- and low-risk patients (4.8% vs. 4.1%, P = 0.77). When these risk factors were assessed independently, those with recent MI were at higher risk for poor outcome (odds ratio [OR], 13.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.2-82.0; P = 0.03). Multivariate analysis also revealed that a history of contralateral stroke or TIA conferred an increased risk of poor outcome (OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.1-8.4; P = 0.02), whereas use of preoperative angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors was associated with reduced risk (OR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.11-1.0; P = 0.05), as was a history of hyperlipidemia (OR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.13-0.87; P = 0.03). By log-rank analysis, 12-month survival was significantly worse in the high-risk group as compared with the low-risk (96% vs. 91%, P = 0.03).
CONCLUSIONS: Patients considered a surgical high risk can undergo CEA without any worse outcome compared with those patients deemed low risk. The benefit of CAS will likely be marginal, and only controlled clinical trials will be able to determine if certain subgroups demonstrate improved outcome with CAS. Carotid endarterectomy remains the standard of care, even in high-risk surgical patients.