[Treatment policy in patients with bilateral lesion of internal carotid arteries]

The article deals with the problem of managing patients presenting with bilateral atherosclerotic lesions of internal carotid arteries (ICA). The problem is currently important enough since the number of patients with multiple symptomatic lesions of carotid arteries grows annually. The authors analysed the outcomes of treatment in two groups of patients with bilateral ICA lesions: Group A patients (n=30) underwent carotid endarterectomies (CEA) sequentially during one hospital stay with a 5-7-day interval; Group B patients (n=40) were subjected to CEA also sequentially but with an interval of 2-3 months. The groups were matched for age, character of lesion and ICA stenosis degree. The operations were performed under local anaesthesia with no use of temporary intraarterial bypasses. All patients were subjected to eversion carotid endarterectomy. It was shown that the complication rate in the groups was virtually similar. Hence, it was proved that performing CEA from the two sides sequentially is possible during one hospital stay.