Preoperative carotid artery screening in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
BACKGROUND
The incidence of stroke is 2.1-5.2% in bypass surgery patients with a mortality of 0-38%. This study was designed to evaluate the incidence of significant carotid artery stenosis and its related risk factors in candidates for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.


METHODS
One thousand forty five consecutive candidates for CABG underwent carotid artery Doppler examination in a prospective study. The relation of age, sex, smoking and diabetes history, as well as lipid profile with carotid stenosis, was evaluated.


RESULTS
In 1045 CABG candidates with a mean age of 60 years, prevalence of significant carotid stenosis (>60%) was 6.9%. In the patients aged 65 years and older, the rate of significant stenosis was 12.5%. Age >50 years, female gender, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes mellitus are independent risk factors for significant carotid stenosis.


CONCLUSIONS
Significant carotid stenosis has an earlier appearance in our study. Cost-effectiveness studies are recommended for revising the previous screening protocols.
Shirani
Shapour
S
Tehran Heart Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. sh_shirani@yahoo.com <sh_shirani@yahoo.com>
Boroumand
Mohammad Ali
MA
Abbasi
Seyed Hesameddin
SH
Maghsoodi
Negar
N
Shakiba
Madjid
M
Karimi
Abbasali
A
Davoodi
Saeed
S
Esfandbod
Maryam
M
D000368:Aged; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000150:complications; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D011300:Preoperative Care; D012307:Risk Factors; D014463:Ultrasonography