Durability of carotid endarterectomy

Carotid endarterectomy is the preferred treatment for patients with transient ischemic attacks and carotid stenosis. Although clinically these patients do well, the long-term fate of the operated carotid artery has not been well documented. To address this question, repeated noninvasive testing has been employed to follow our carotid endarterectomy patients since 1976. Supraorbital Doppler examination, oculoplethysmography-Kartchner, carotid phonoangiography and, later in this series, spectral analysis of the carotid Doppler velocities were performed after 193 endarterectomies. One hundred fifty-eight patients were initially tested within 3 months of operation, and 35 were initially tested 3 or more months after operation. Twenty-four arteries, four of which were symptomatic, had an initial abnormal test and are excluded from this study of carotid artery durability. Of the 169 patients with normal carotid tests, 36 had no further evaluation. Among the 133 patients who returned for serial testing from 1 to 60 months (mean 20 months), 115 carotid arteries continued to test normal at late follow-up but 18 subsequently developed test abnormalities. Ten had more than 75% stenosis, eight had 50% to 75% stenosis. Eight of these patients had contrast studies: three had normal findings; the five that had abnormal findings underwent reoperation. Interestingly, only two patients presented with symptoms appropriate to the abnormal test. The findings suggest that carotid endarterectomy is a reasonably durable operation. Recurrent stenosis was presumed or proven in 10% of 133 serially tested carotid arteries. This threat of restenosis makes long-term follow-up of these patients mandatory.