title: The utility of preoperative routine carotid artery duplex scanning in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement.
abstract: Patients with aortic valve disease (AVD) typically have a cardiac murmur that radiates to the neck and may be indistinguishable from a cervical bruit secondary to carotid artery occlusive disease. The purpose of this report was to determine the prevalence of significant asymptomatic carotid artery occlusive disease in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement (AVR). All patients scheduled for AVR were prospectively studied. Preoperative carotid artery color-flow duplex was performed in all patients. A total of 204 patients were included in the study and significant carotid disease (>50% stenosis of the internal carotid artery) was found in 17 (8%). In patients with isolated aortic valve disease, 4/129 (3%) had significant stenosis. Of the patients with concurrent aortic valve and coronary artery disease, 13/75 (17%) had significant stenosis. The incidence of significant carotid stenosis in patients with aortic valve disease was over five fold higher in patients with concurrent coronary artery disease (3% vs. 17%, p <0.001). The yield of routine carotid duplex scanning for patients undergoing isolated AVR is low. However, in the subset of patients with concurrent coronary disease, the yield is higher. This finding supports the use of routine carotid duplex scanning in patients with coexistent aortic valve and coronary artery disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of Vascular Surgery, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Terramani
authors.forename: Douglas B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Hood
authors.forename: Vincent L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peyre
authors.forename: Ismael N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Nuno
authors.forename: Steven G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.forename: Roy D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Kohl
authors.forename: Vaughn A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Starnes
authors.forename: Fred A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Weaver
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000601:surgery*; D002343:Carotid Artery, Internal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006337:Heart Murmurs / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011300:Preoperative Care; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D018616:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex