The Good, the Bad, and the About-to-Get Ugly.

The author examines the trends in carotid endarterectomy (CEA) in the U.S. which is characterized by wide geographic variations for three decades. He presents evidence that CEA is both underused and overused in minorities across the country. He presents a commentary on and an overview of a study which investigated CEA use by examining Medicare claims from 2003 to 2006. He also mentions factors which contributed to the wide geographic variations in CEA trends.