Carotid artery restenosis in a Hispanic population.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Carotid endarterectomy is one of the main surgical procedures used for carotid stenosis and its recurrence. Besides the setting of a randomized controlled trial for asymptomatic and symptomatic carotid artery stenosis, there is little information about the rate of restenosis after carotid endarterectomy in Hispanics. The purpose of this study is to describe the results of carotid endarterectomy on the basis of restenosis in a Hispanic population. METHOD A retrospective revision of 47 endarterectomies performed on 43 patients by a single surgeon at the VA Caribbean Health Care System and Pavia Hospital, during an eight year period (1990-1998), was conducted. Information about endarterectomies, restenosis and known risk factors for carotid stenosis were obtained from medical records. RESULTS Of the 43 patients, 31 were male (72%) and 12 female (28%), with a mean age of 67.9 years. Re-operations for recurrent carotid stenosis were performed in 2 patients (4.7%). Restenosis cases were asymptomatic, hence diagnosed through followup ultrasound Duplex studies and confirmed by angiography after 3 and 4 years of the first surgical procedure. The degree of restenosis (70% to 99%) after the initial endarterectomy was 4.3%. The major risk factors found among patients were hypertension (58%), hypercholesterolemia (50%), smoking (46%), and alcohol (34%). CONCLUSIONS Carotid endarterectomy with primary closure is safe and durable. Repeated surgery using patch grafts in this Hispanic population was also safe. The concordance of risk factors and incidence of carotid stenosis correlated well with other studies.