Clinical use of noninvasive evaluation of the carotid artery

The noninvasive evaluation of carotid artery disease should include a battery of tests that includes one direct and one indirect assessment of the extracranial carotid arteries. The resulting data should be correlated with the clinical findings and the patient's general status so the risks and benefits of carotid endarterectomy may be determined. These studies are usually outpatient procedures and allow one to determine in the office which patients would benefit from carotid surgery and who should be followed serially. Carotid arteriography is reserved for those patients who will be subjected to surgery. In our hands, the combination of CPA, Kartchner-McRae OPG, and Echoflow fulfill these requirements. In a small number of patients the history, physical examination, and noninvasive studies are inconclusive. For most patients, we are able to make decisions as to the best therapy in the office and can discuss risks and benefits with patients and their families with an accuracy of approximately 95 per cent before hospitalization and arteriography are considered.