Postoperative neurological deficit after carotid endarterectomy: a mid-term outcome analysis.
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.
Attigah
Nicolas
N
Department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Ruprecht-Karl University Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Külkens
Sonja
S
Ringleb
Peter
P
Martin
Jochen
J
Allenberg
Jens-Rainer
JR
Jenetzky
E
E
Böckler
Dittmar
D
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