[Effectiveness of regional anesthesia for loco-regional carotid surgery. Retrospective review of 147 interventions].

The Authors present a retrospective review that compares general anesthesia with regional anesthesia performed during carotid endarterectomy surgery. The study includes 147 procedures, performed on 144 patients: 76 had general anesthesia and 71 had regional anesthesia. After emphasizing the importance of conscience preservation during regional anesthesia to allow a simple and secure monitoring of the patient's neurologic functions, the Authors point out the decrease of peri- and postoperative accidents, whether neurologic or not, obtained with regional anesthesia. Another essential advantage of this technique is the possibility to insert the transitory shunt only when objectively necessary, ulteriorly reducing neurologic complications. Cervical plexus block is primarily indicated for high risk patients with instable neurologic simptomatology, severe stenosis of the contralateral carotid, coronary heart disease. The technique has proved to be of easy execution, safe and well accepted by the patient and the surgeon.