Carotid endarterectomy in patients with cerebral transient ischemic attacks.

Eighty-seven consecutive patients with cerebral transient ischemic attacks (TIA) subjected to 98 surgical operations for stenosis of the internal carotid artery were followed for a period of 3.5 years in average. In the immediate postoperative period one patient died and two other patients had a severe neurological deficit. These complications occurred in patients where medical risk factors were present preoperatively. During the follow-up period six patients had a stroke. This figure is about 1/3 og the estimated expected number in an untreated patient group of the same size. Three strokes occurred from the hemisphere ipsilateral to the operated internal carotid artery and three from the contralateral hemisphere. Although estimation of expected number of strokes is associated with many uncertainties the present results suggest that carotid endarterectomy in patients with TIA and carotid artery stenosis reduced the frequency of strokes.