title: Low prevalence of significant carotid artery disease in Iranian patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Coronary artery bypass grafting ranks as one of the most frequent operations worldwide. The presence of carotid artery stenosis may increase the stroke rate in the perioperative period. Routine preoperative noninvasive assessment of the carotid arteries are recommended in many institutions to reduce the stroke rate.
  
  
  METHODS
  271 consecutive patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting at Shaheed Madani hospital of Tabriz, Iran (age, 58.5 Y; 73.1% male) underwent preoperative ultrasonography for assessment of carotid artery wall thickness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Plaque in right common, left common, right internal and left internal carotid arteries was detected in 4.8%, 7.4%, 43.2% and 42.1% of patients respectively. 5 patients (1.8%) had significant (<50%) and 3 (1.1%) patients had critical (<70%) stenosis in internal carotid arteries. Plaque formation in common carotid was not significantly different between two genders but the stenosis of left internal carotid was more frequently seen among men. Patients with plaques in right or left internal carotid arteries were significantly older.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Consecutive Iranian patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass surgery show a very low prevalence of significant carotid artery disease.
authors.affiliation: Associate professor of Radiology, Department of Radiology, Tabriz university of medical sciences, Tabriz, Iran. tarzamni@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Mohammad K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Tarzamni
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Afrasyabi
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farhoodi
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Karimi
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Farhang
mesh_terms: D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014463:Ultrasonography