Safety of urgent endarterectomy in acute non-disabling stroke patients with symptomatic carotid artery stenosis: an international multicenter study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: International recommendations advocate that carotid endarterectomy (CEA) should be performed within 2 weeks from the index event in symptomatic carotid artery stenosis (sCAS) patients. However, there are controversial data regarding the safety of CEA performed during the first 2 days of ictus. The aim of this international, multicenter study was to prospectively evaluate the safety of urgent (0-2 days) in comparison to early (3-14 days) CEA in patients with sCAS.

METHODS: Consecutive patients with non-disabling (modified Rankin Scale scores ≤2) acute ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack due to sCAS (≥70%) underwent urgent or early CEA at five tertiary-care stroke centers during a 6-year period. The primary outcome events included stroke, myocardial infarction or death during the 30-day follow-up period.

RESULTS: A total of 311 patients with sCAS underwent urgent (n = 63) or early (n = 248) CEA. The two groups did not differ in baseline characteristics with the exception of crescendo transient ischaemic attacks (21% in urgent vs. 7% in early CEA; P = 0.001). The 30-day rates of stroke did not differ (P = 0.333) between patients with urgent (7.9%; 95% confidence interval 3.1%-17.7%) and early (4.4%; 95% confidence interval 2.4%-7.9%) CEA. The mortality and myocardial infarction rates were similar between the two groups. The median length of hospitalization was shorter in urgent CEA [6 days (interquartile range 4-6) vs. 10 days (interquartile range 7-14); P < 0.001].

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight that urgent CEA performed within 2 days from the index event is related to a non-significant increase in the risk of peri-procedural stroke. The safety of urgent CEA requires further evaluation in larger datasets.