The preoperative patient with an asymptomatic cervical bruit.

At the time of this writing there appears to be little evidence that cervical bruits are good indicators of stenosis or plaque in the underlying carotid artery in asymptomatic patients, or that the finding of a carotid bruit places the patient at greater risk of postoperative stroke. The mortality and morbidity of angiography and endarterectomy are too high to risk their use in a group of asymptomatic patients.