Carotid endarterectomy: the gold standard.

Carotid endarterectomy has been firmly established as the gold standard of therapy for symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with severe carotid stenosis, provided surgical complication rates are within prescribed limits. The procedure-related risk of stroke/death should be < 3% in asymptomatic patients and < 6% in symptomatic patients. New investigational therapies such as balloon angioplasty and stenting for carotid stenosis should be evaluated against the same standard.