title: Results of staged carotid endarterectomy and coronary artery bypass graft in patients with severe carotid and coronary disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To evaluate our experience with staged carotid endarterectomy (CEA) followed by coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) within the perioperative period for patients with severe carotid and coronary artery disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  From 1998 to August of 2010, 40 patients who were referred for isolated coronary surgery were found to have significant carotid disease. All patients underwent CEA followed by subsequent CABG within 30 days of the CEA. Severe carotid stenosis was defined as >70%.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Average patient age was 65.5 ± 10.6 years and 32 (80%) were male. Severe carotid stenosis was unilateral in 37 of the patients, bilateral in 3, and asymptomatic in 37. Patients underwent CEA with either patch angioplasty or eversion technique. General anesthesia with selective shunting was used in all cases. There were zero deaths, zero strokes, and one myocardial infarction (MI) (2.5%) immediately after CEA. After CEA, CABG was performed within 30 days. The average interval between procedures was 6.87 days. There were two (5.0%) deaths, one from MI and the other from multisystem organ failure. There were two strokes (5.0%), with one having permanent effects. The perioperative mortality, stroke, and MI rates after both operations were 5.0%, 5.0%, and 5.0%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Staging of CEA followed by CABG in the immediate perioperative period may be an acceptable approach to patients with severe carotid and coronary disease. Despite the presence of known severe coronary disease, the performance of CEA under general anesthesia as the initial procedure was well tolerated. We propose that this strategy may be a possible option for patients who present with severe disease in both coronary and carotid distributions. The results of our study, though based on a limited cohort, suggest that this approach of staged CEA-CABG within the perioperative period <30 days is reasonable.
authors.affiliation: Allegheny General Hospital, The Gerald McGinnis Cardiovascular Institute, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, USA. asantos@wpahs.org
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Washington
authors.forename: Rodeen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rahbar
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Benckart
authors.forename: Satish
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muluk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D016894:Endarterectomy, Carotid / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology