Recurrent carotid disease: optimum technique for redo surgery.

Carotid restenosis has been a well-recognized, though not well-understood, long-term complication of carotid endarterectomy. Various factors contribute to recurrent stenosis, but the chief cause is technical faults during the primary procedure. Redo endarterectomy or graft reconstruction are the traditional and most effective procedures for treating symptomatic or high-grade (> 80%) asymptomatic restenotic lesions. To reduce the potential for carotid restenosis, eversion endarterectomy is recommended as the technique of choice for de novo carotid disease treatment. Angioscopy is useful in detecting correctable technical errors that could predispose to restenosis.