title: Late results and prognosis after carotid artery surgery.
abstract: Carotid reconstruction was performed on 75 patients (84 operations) mainly because of transient ischemic attacks (TIA) and/or amaurosis fugax (67%) or TIA with incomplete recovery (20%). The operative mortality was 2.4%. The incidence of permanent postoperative neurologic deficit was 6.0%. The postoperative observation time was 1 year to 13 years 5 months (mean 66 months). At follow-up 87% of the survivors were symptom-free. Three new strokes, one of them not related to the operated side, occurred follow-up, and 26 more patients died. The relative cumulative 5-year survival was 87.3%. Of the total 28 deaths, 16 were due to myocardial infarction. Mortality was significantly heightened and cumulative 5-year survival reduced when preoperative ECG had indicated coronary heart disease. The high incidence of deaths from myocardial disease during long-term follow-up was directly related to preoperative presence of coronary heart disease.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001766:Blindness / Q000628:therapy; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000601:surgery*; D004691:Endarterectomy / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D002546:Ischemic Attack, Transient / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies