title: Postoperative neurological deficit after carotid endarterectomy: a mid-term outcome analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To evaluate the neurological outcome of postoperative neurological deficit (PND) in patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 3.7% (n = 48) out of 1,290 consecutive patients developed PND and were assessed neurologically after a mid-term follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After a 4-year follow-up, these patients were neurologically reevaluated. Clinical assessment revealed that 48% (n = 13) of the patients had a Rankin scale score of 0 or 1, 56% (n = 14) had a National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score of 0 or 1, and 68.5% (n = 17) reached the maximum score on the Barthel index.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The neurofunctional prognosis of PND is good. Four years after CEA, almost half of the patients had normal or near-normal neuroclinical findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Ruprecht-Karl University Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Attigah
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Külkens
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ringleb
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Jens-Rainer
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Allenberg
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jenetzky
authors.forename: Dittmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Böckler
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000601:surgery*; D016894:Endarterectomy, Carotid; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D002546:Ischemic Attack, Transient / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011379:Prognosis; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications