Surgical Technique of Carotid Endarterectomy for Patients with High Cervical Internal Carotid Artery Stenosis

Abstract

We retrospectively examined both the incidence of newly detected hyperintense areas using diffusion-weighted MR images (DWI-HIA) and postoperative complications after carotid endarterectomy (CEA) for patients with high cervical internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis. Among 39 patients who underwent CEA between January 2001 and October 2006, 10 showed high cervical ICA stenosis on the preoperative carotid angiogram. CEA was successfully performed on 9 patients with oral intubation and 1 patient with nasal intubation under general anesthesia. Transient hypoglossal nerve palsy was seen in 1 patient and wound hematoma in 1 patient. Mortality and morbidity were zero at 1 month after CEA. In 3 of 10 patients (30%), asymptomatic small DWI-HIAs were detected postoperatively.
Gentle manipulation of the internal carotid artery is essential for high cervical carotid artery stenosis to prevent embolic complication after CEA.