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Immediate surgery is the best option for some patients with severe narrowing of the carotid artery and can greatly reduce their chances for having a stroke, according to new findings.

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, May 12, 2004

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Immediate surgery is the best option for some patients with severe narrowing of the carotid artery and can greatly reduce their chances for having a stroke, according to new findings reported in The Lancet medical journal.

In a trial of 3,000 patients in 126 hospitals in 30 countries, researchers at St. George's Medical School in London found that surgery which removes deposits that narrow the main artery to the brain can reduce a patient's risk for stroke by half. Most of the patients who benefited from the procedure were under the age of 75.

Severe narrowing of the carotid artery, which carries blood to the brain, raises a person's chance of having a disabling or fatal stroke, which accounts for one in 10 of the 55 million deaths that occur each year worldwide.

"It's clear from our trial that immediate surgery is the best option for some patients with severe narrowing of the carotid artery," says Alison Halliday, MD, consultant vascular surgeon at St. George's Medical School, who reported the findings.

Anyone with a blockage in the artery of between 70 and 90% would be a candidate for surgery, according to Halliday. Blockages occur in the carotid artery just as they do in arteries linked with heart attack.

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