Biomaterial Database

Surgical management of carotid artery atherosclerotic disease. 1993

R L McCann

Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710.

Cerebrovascular disease remains an important cause of disability and death in the geriatric population. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge with respect to the pathogenesis and medical and surgical treatment of carotid atherosclerosis. The majority of strokes are probably due to embolization from an ulcerated atherosclerotic plaque at the carotid bifurcation rather than from ischemia produced by global reduction in cerebral blood flow related to obstruction of the carotid arteries. Ultrasonography is an appropriate screening examination, but most vascular surgeons consider contrast angiography to be essential in the preoperative evaluation. Large clinical trials have evaluated the efficacy of stroke prevention by carotid endarterectomy in symptomatic patients. The North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial clearly demonstrated a benefit of surgery in stroke prevention as compared with optimal medical therapy after only 18 months of follow-up. The European Carotid Surgery Trial and a VA Cooperative Study produced similar conclusions. Much less information is available concerning the patient with carotid atherosclerosis who has no cerebral symptoms. No convincing evidence that surgery is beneficial has yet been demonstrated, but a large multicenter clinical trial (Asymptomatic Carotid Atherosclerosis Study) remains in progress.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008403	Mass Screening	Organized periodic procedures performed on large groups of people for the purpose of detecting disease.	Screening,Mass Screenings,Screening, Mass,Screenings,Screenings, Mass
D012107	Research Design	A plan for collecting and utilizing data so that desired information can be obtained with sufficient precision or so that an hypothesis can be tested properly.	Experimental Design,Data Adjustment,Data Reporting,Design, Experimental,Designs, Experimental,Error Sources,Experimental Designs,Matched Groups,Methodology, Research,Problem Formulation,Research Methodology,Research Proposal,Research Strategy,Research Technics,Research Techniques,Scoring Methods,Adjustment, Data,Adjustments, Data,Data Adjustments,Design, Research,Designs, Research,Error Source,Formulation, Problem,Formulations, Problem,Group, Matched,Groups, Matched,Matched Group,Method, Scoring,Methods, Scoring,Problem Formulations,Proposal, Research,Proposals, Research,Reporting, Data,Research Designs,Research Proposals,Research Strategies,Research Technic,Research Technique,Scoring Method,Source, Error,Sources, Error,Strategies, Research,Strategy, Research,Technic, Research,Technics, Research,Technique, Research,Techniques, Research
D002340	Carotid Artery Diseases	Pathological conditions involving the CAROTID ARTERIES, including the common, internal, and external carotid arteries. ATHEROSCLEROSIS and TRAUMA are relatively frequent causes of carotid artery pathology.	Carotid Atherosclerosis,Common Carotid Artery Disease,Internal Carotid Artery Disease,Arterial Diseases, Carotid,Arterial Diseases, Common Carotid,Arterial Diseases, External Carotid,Arterial Diseases, Internal Carotid,Atherosclerotic Disease, Carotid,Carotid Artery Disorders,Carotid Atherosclerotic Disease,Common Carotid Artery Diseases,External Carotid Artery Diseases,Internal Carotid Artery Diseases,Arterial Disease, Carotid,Artery Disease, Carotid,Artery Diseases, Carotid,Artery Disorder, Carotid,Artery Disorders, Carotid,Atherosclerotic Diseases, Carotid,Carotid Arterial Disease,Carotid Arterial Diseases,Carotid Artery Disease,Carotid Artery Disorder,Carotid Atheroscleroses,Carotid Atherosclerotic Diseases,Disorders, Carotid Artery
D002423	Cause of Death	Factors which produce cessation of all vital bodily functions. They can be analyzed from an epidemiologic viewpoint.	Causes of Death,Death Cause,Death Causes
D002546	Ischemic Attack, Transient	Brief reversible episodes of focal, nonconvulsive ischemic dysfunction of the brain having a duration of less than 24 hours, and usually less than one hour, caused by transient thrombotic or embolic blood vessel occlusion or stenosis. Events may be classified by arterial distribution, temporal pattern, or etiology (e.g., embolic vs. thrombotic). (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, pp814-6)	Brain Stem Ischemia, Transient,Cerebral Ischemia, Transient,Crescendo Transient Ischemic Attacks,Transient Ischemic Attack,Anterior Circulation Transient Ischemic Attack,Brain Stem Transient Ischemic Attack,Brain TIA,Brainstem Ischemia, Transient,Brainstem Transient Ischemic Attack,Carotid Circulation Transient Ischemic Attack,Posterior Circulation Transient Ischemic Attack,TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack),Transient Ischemic Attack, Anterior Circulation,Transient Ischemic Attack, Brain Stem,Transient Ischemic Attack, Brainstem,Transient Ischemic Attack, Carotid Circulation,Transient Ischemic Attack, Posterior Circulation,Transient Ischemic Attack, Vertebrobasilar Circulation,Transient Ischemic Attacks, Crescendo,Vertebrobasilar Circulation Transient Ischemic Attack,Attack, Transient Ischemic,Attacks, Transient Ischemic,Brainstem Ischemias, Transient,Cerebral Ischemias, Transient,Ischemia, Transient Brainstem,Ischemia, Transient Cerebral,Ischemias, Transient Brainstem,Ischemias, Transient Cerebral,Ischemic Attacks, Transient,TIA, Brain,TIAs (Transient Ischemic Attack),Transient Brainstem Ischemia,Transient Cerebral Ischemia,Transient Cerebral Ischemias,Transient Ischemic Attacks
D002561	Cerebrovascular Disorders	A spectrum of pathological conditions of impaired blood flow in the brain. They can involve vessels (ARTERIES or VEINS) in the CEREBRUM, the CEREBELLUM, and the BRAIN STEM. Major categories include INTRACRANIAL ARTERIOVENOUS MALFORMATIONS; BRAIN ISCHEMIA; CEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE; and others.	Brain Vascular Disorders,Intracranial Vascular Disorders,Vascular Diseases, Intracranial,Cerebrovascular Diseases,Cerebrovascular Insufficiency,Cerebrovascular Occlusion,Brain Vascular Disorder,Cerebrovascular Disease,Cerebrovascular Disorder,Cerebrovascular Insufficiencies,Cerebrovascular Occlusions,Disease, Cerebrovascular,Diseases, Cerebrovascular,Insufficiencies, Cerebrovascular,Insufficiency, Cerebrovascular,Intracranial Vascular Disease,Intracranial Vascular Diseases,Intracranial Vascular Disorder,Occlusion, Cerebrovascular,Occlusions, Cerebrovascular,Vascular Disease, Intracranial,Vascular Disorder, Brain,Vascular Disorder, Intracranial,Vascular Disorders, Brain,Vascular Disorders, Intracranial
D005500	Follow-Up Studies	Studies in which individuals or populations are followed to assess the outcome of exposures, procedures, or effects of a characteristic, e.g., occurrence of disease.	Followup Studies,Follow Up Studies,Follow-Up Study,Followup Study,Studies, Follow-Up,Studies, Followup,Study, Follow-Up,Study, Followup
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000368	Aged	A person 65 years of age or older. For a person older than 79 years, AGED, 80 AND OVER is available.	Elderly
D000792	Angiography	Radiography of blood vessels after injection of a contrast medium.	Arteriography,Angiogram,Angiograms,Angiographies,Arteriographies