
A recent study conducted in Europe and Canada showed that many patients suffering from stenosis of the carotid artery do not necessarily require surgical intervention to prevent strokes. Currently, such procedures are usually performed in their case. In the USA, more than 100,000 operations to remove blockages in the carotid artery are performed annually. In some cases, the removal of a blocked vessel effectively reduces the risk of stroke. However, the intervention itself may provoke its occurrence.
Following surgical intervention or stenting, patients receive preparations to reduce blood pressure, lower arterial pressure, and cholesterol levels. Considering the improvement in the effectiveness of these preparations over time, researchers began to ask the question of the necessity of routine procedures in the case of carotid stenosis in all cases.
In the framework of the conducted study, researchers studied 429 elderly patients, most of whom had stenosis of the carotid artery constituting no less than 50%, but the stroke risk was low and did not exceed 20%. All participants in the study received standard medications, after which half of them were randomly subjected to surgical intervention, while the other half underwent stenting. The article on the results of the study was published in the journal "The Lancet Neurology" and showed that two years after the intervention, researchers did not find differences in the level of strokes, serious complications, or mortality.
As noted in the article, the researchers will continue to monitor participants for an additional three years, and the results obtained at this stage will be more definitive. Dr. Paul Nederkoorn from the University Medical Center Amsterdam, who participated in the study leadership, noted: "The latest findings indicate that the preparations will likely be sufficient in themselves for reducing the stroke risk in up to 75% of patients."