An update on the incidence of perioperative outcomes after carotid endarterectomy, stratified by type of preprocedural neurologic symptom

Abstract

ObjectivePerioperative complications after carotid endarterectomy (CEA) have decreased over time. Therefore, we aimed to provide an update on 30-day outcomes after CEA, stratified by type of preprocedural neurologic symptom. MethodsWe included all CEAs from the Targeted Vascular module of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP, 2011-2015) and stratified patients based on type of preprocedural neurologic symptom, that is, asymptomatic, ocular transient ischemic attack (TIA), hemispheric TIA, and stroke. We compared 30-day outcomes across the groups, with 30-day stroke/death as our primary endpoint. ResultsOf 16,739 CEA patients, 9784 were asymptomatic (58%). Among the 6955 symptomatic patients, 1216 (17%) had a preprocedural ocular TIA, 2635 (38%) a preprocedural hemispheric TIA, and 3104 (45%) a preprocedural stroke. Preprocedural stroke patients had higher 30-day stroke/death rates compared with those with a preprocedural hemispheric TIA, or ocular TIA, or asymptomatic patients (5.0% vs 3.3%, 1.9%, and 1.8%, respectively; all P < .001), primarily owing to differences in perioperative 30-day stroke rates, with 4.1% vs 2.5%, 1.4%, and 1.3%, respectively (all P < .001). ConclusionsAmong symptomatic CEA patients, those with a preprocedural stroke had a high perioperative 30-day stroke/death rate, compared with those patients with either a preprocedural hemispheric or ocular TIA. Therefore, the common stratification applied to CEA patients, which groups all symptomatic patients, should be avoided, especially as the relative proportion of symptomatic patients with a preprocedural stroke vs those with a hemispheric or ocular TIA will affect the overall outcome for all symptomatic patients after CEA.