The role of surgery in ischemic stroke

Surgery in the management of stroke is useful primarily as a stroke-preventive measure for patients with extracranial carotid artery occlusive disease. Ideally, lesions that are potential sources of ischemia are removed before a fixed neurologic deficit can occur. Patients with transient ischemic attacks and no deficit or only minor neurologic deficit comprise the largest group of surgical candidates. Diagnostic angiography must be carried out before endarterectomy and should include aortic arch studies of both extracranial and intracranial carotid arteries. Placement of an intra-arterial catheter at the beginning of surgery provides the best method of monitoring arterial pressure. A postoperative angiogram allows visual confirmation of the patency of reconstructed vessels. Such confirmation is particularly important if patients have severely stenotic bilateral carotid artery disease. The surgical mortality for all patients with TIAs is between 1% and 2% in those clinics in which this type of operation is commonly done.