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Background: To compare the outcomes of patients who were submitted to partial carotid endarterectomy (P-CEA) to those of patients who underwent standard conventional CEA with patch closure (C-CEA) and eversion CEA (E-CEA) for a significant carotid stenosis., Methods: Data of patients who consecutively underwent CEA from January 2014 to December 2018 for a significant carotid stenosis were retrospectively collected. Primary outcomes included mortality and the occurrence of neurologic and cardiologic complications, both at 30 days and during follow-up. Secondary outcomes included the occurrence of perioperative local complications (i.e. cranial nerve injuries, hematomas) and restenosis during follow-up. P values < 0.5 were considered statistically significant., Results: Three-hundred twenty-seven patients (241 males, 74%) underwent CEA for carotid stenosis (28.6% symptomatic). P-CEA was performed in 202 patients (61.8%), while C-CEA and E-CEA were performed in 103 and 22 cases respectively. At 30 days, neurologic complications were not significantly different among the 3 groups (2.8% in the group of C-CEA, 2.4% after P-CEA and 0% in E-CEA patients, P = 0.81), neither during follow-up. Perioperative local complications also were not significantly different among the 3 groups (P = 0.16)., Conclusions: P-CEA had similar outcomes if compared to C-CEA and to E-CEA in terms of perioperative mortality, occurrence of neurologic and cardiologic complications, and occurrence of local complications. Also, in the long-term, P-CEA, C-CEA, and E-CEA were burdened by similar rates of mortality, neurologic, and cardiologic complications and restenosis., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: We aimed to review the safety and effectiveness of dual-layer micromesh stents for the endovascular treatment of carotid artery stenosis. Methods: Electronic bibliographic databases were searched using the words 'micromesh carotid stent'. The review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement standards. Results: The search of the Literature retrieved 84 results. After assessment of full texts, 13 papers were included in the study. The analyzed studies included 797 patients, 32.1% of them were symptomatic. The reported technical success rate was 100% in all cases. During early follow-up, complications occurred overall in 16/797 patients (2%: 12 strokes, 3 deaths, and one transient ischemic attack). The study with the longest follow-up reported a survival rate of 82% at 4 years and a stroke-free survival rate of 84% at 4 years. Conclusion: With the limit of low data quality, the use of dual-layer stents was reported to be as safe and effective at 30 days for the endovascular treatment of extracranial carotid artery stenosis. The reported technical success was 100% in all cases. Further data coming from randomized controlled trials and larger cohort studies with longer follow-up are nevertheless needed for a better evaluation.

Abstract: Objective: Although cardiovascular risk factors have been strongly linked to carotid intimal-media thickness, their association with plaque progression towards instability is poorly understood. We evaluated a large database of endarterectomy specimens removed from symptomatic and asymptomatic patients to determine the correlation between major cardiovascular risk factors and carotid plaque morphology. Methods: Incidence of thrombotic, vulnerable and stable plaques together with the degree of plaque inflammatory infiltration was evaluated in 457 carotid atherosclerotic lesions. Clinical records were reviewed in all cases for risk factors profile. Results: Thrombotic plaques were more frequently observed in patients affected by stroke (66.9%) as compared to TIA (36.1%) and asymptomatic patients (26.8%, p <0.001). Out of 457 carotid plaques removed during carotid endarterectomy, 181 (39.6%) were represented by thrombotic plaques, 72 (15.8%) by vulnerable plaques (thin cap fibroateroma) and 204 (44.6%) by stable plaques. At the multivariate analysis, a strong association was observed between hypertension, low HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) and ratio of total to HDL-C >5 with vulnerable and thrombotic carotid plaques. Hypertension (p =0.001), hypercholesterolemia (p =0.05) and low HDL-C (p =0.001) significantly also correlated with the presence of high inflammatory infiltrate of the plaque. When multivariate analysis was restricted to asymptomatic patients, hypertension (p =0.009, OR 2.29), low HDL-cholesterol (p =0.01 OR 2.21) and the ratio of total to HDL-C >5 (p =0.03, OR 2.07) were confirmed to be the risk factors most significantly associated to unstable plaques. The relative risk to carry an unstable plaque for asymptomatic patients with high Framingham Risk Score as compared with those with low risk score was 2.06 (95% C.I., 1.26–3.36). Conclusions: The present histopathological study identifies risk factors predictive of increased risk of carotid plaque rupture and thrombosis. Asymptomatic patients with high risk factors profile may constitute a specific target to reduce the likelihood of cerebrovascular accidents even in the presence of non-flow-limiting plaque. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]