Carotid endarterectomy should be performed early or delayed in patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis?

To date, the literature directly comparing early carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and delayed CEA in patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis (CS) is limited. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of early CEA and delayed CEA in patients with symptomatic CS by performing a meta-analysis.

The PubMed, Cochrane Library (last searched in May 2020) and relevant websites such as Web of Science and EMBASE (1990 to May 2020) were searched. All meta-analyses of eligible results were conducted using the STATA version 12.0 (Stata Corporation, College Station, Texas, USA).

A total of 7 articles were included in the study hailing from the New Scotland, Chicago, Sweden, UK, Italy, and France. In this study, the early CEA meant that the procedure was performed within the first 14 days or first 30 days. And the delayed CEA meant the procedure was performed more than 14 days or 30 days after the symptom occurrence. Referring to the latter early CEA group and delayed CEA group, there were three publications. The results illustrated that the early CEA group was not associated with a higher incidence of stroke (OR = 0.77, 95 % CI: 0.273-2.170; P = 0.620). And no statistic difference was found on the incidence of postoperative 30-day mortality and stroke or mortality. Meanwhile, referring to the former early CEA group and delayed CEA group, there were six articles. The results demonstrated that the early CEA group was associated with a higher rate of postoperative 30-day mortality (RD = 0.010, 95 % CI: 0.002 to 0.019; P = 0.022).

The meta-analysis of these related studies suggests that, compared to the delayed CEA group, the early CEA performed in patients with the acute post stroke phase resulted in a higher risk of postoperative mortality. Therefore, the delayed CEA was safer than early CEA for patients with symptomatic CS.