Recurring lesions a possibility after carotid endarterectomy
One carotid endarterectomy is usually (but not always) enough, according to a California study. In a series of 1,654 such patients dating back to 1957, only 1.5% were found to have new stenosis at or near the original operative site.
The few lesions that do recur fall into two distinct types and occur either quite early (within a year) or quite late (after five or more years). The early recurrences are characterized by intimal fibrosis, and the late recurrences are generally a reappearance of the atherosclerotic plaque that caused the original stenosis.
S. Timothy String, MD, assistant professor of surgery at the College of Medicine, University of South Alabama, Mobile, described the incidence and the surgical management of these recurrent lesions to the recent meeting of the Society for Vascular Surgery in Albuquerque, NM. His coauthor was Ronald J. Stoney, MD, associate
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