title: Operative intervention for carotid restenosis is safe and effective.
abstract: Carotid stenting has been proposed as an alternative to reoperative carotid endarterectomy (rCEA) for recurrent carotid stenosis. The purpose of this study is to prove the safety, effectiveness and durability of reoperation in long term follow up of 18 years in a community hospital setting. From March 1988 to April 2005 80 patients, 46 men and 34 women (mean age: 64.1 years) underwent a total of 83 operations. Symptomatic recurrent stenosis (>70%) was the indication in 32, asymptomatic high-grade stenosis (>80%) in 49, intimal flap in one and fibromuscular dysplasia (F.M.D), in one. The initial operation was carotid endarterectomy with primary closure in 60 and prosthetic patch in 23. The mean recurrences were at 23.3 months in 33 with myointimal hyperplasia, 105.4 months in 29 with recurrent atherosclerosis, 61.4 months in 19 with both hyperplasia and atherosclerosis, 2 months in one with intimal flap and 8 months in one with F.M.D bands. Reoperation utilized primary closure (3), vein patch (14), prosthetic patch (55), Gore-Tex interposition grafts (7), vein interposition grafts (3) and intraoperative dilation (1). No perioperative strokes or deaths occurred. One patient died from cardiac complications following combined rCEA and coronary artery bypass grafting. Operative morbidity consisted of reversible nerve injury (5), irreversible recurrent laryngeal nerve injury (1) and hematoma requiring evacuation (3). During follow up (3-153 months; mean: 50.9) carotid occlusion resulted in mild ipsilateral stroke in one patient, and one non-hemispheric stroke. There were 26 late deaths due to all causes, one due to CVA. Eight patients required reoperation (mean 53.4 months). Seven of these were hypertensive. Kaplan-Meier analysis of long-term follow up shows relatively high stroke free rates; at 153 months (12.75 years) the hemispheric stroke free rate was 98.67% and the all-stroke free rate was 95.85%. The survival estimate following redo surgery was 69.97% at 5 years and 40.23% at 10 years. We found that individuals on statin therapy (p-value=0.0042), and those on combination of statin and aspirin (p-value=0.0320), had significantly increased interval between primary and secondary operation. Increased age was correlated to a decreased time to redo surgery (p-value=<0.0001). We conclude that reoperation for recurrent carotid stenosis using standard vascular techniques is safe, effective, durable and cost effective. It should continue to be the mainstay of treatment when secondary intervention is required. Statins have a salutary effect on durability of the procedure and should be used when indicated.
authors: Michigan State University, Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies, USA.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Jain
authors: K M
authors: KM
authors: Jain
authors: S D
authors: SD
authors: Kumar
authors: J S
authors: JS
authors: Munn
authors: M C
authors: MC
authors: Rummel
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D015897:Comorbidity; D016894:Endarterectomy, Carotid / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D012008:Recurrence; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors