ORIGINAL ARTICLES  VASCULAR PAPERS 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 1998 October;39(5):541-9

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Intraoperative H/R echography for carotid surgery

Occhionorelli S., Mascoli F., Ascanelli S., Navarra G., Carcoforo P., Traina L., Pollinzi V.

From the Department of Surgery, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

Back­ground. Intra­op­er­a­tive ­duplex exam­ina­tion can be ­used ­during ­carotid sur­gery to iden­tify ­small tech­nical ­defects (­like anas­to­motic sten­osis, ­intimal ­flaps or sub­in­timal ­wall dis­sec­tions) ­that ­cannot be ­easily ­found by pal­pa­tory manoeu­vres. The objec­tive of ­this clin­ical ­study is to cor­re­late intra­op­er­a­tive ­duplex find­ings ­with ­early post­op­er­a­tive com­pli­ca­tions and ­with ­duplex ­data ­obtained ­during ­follow-up.
­Methods. ­From Jan­uary 1993 to Jan­uary 1996 we com­pared ­early and ­late post­op­er­a­tive com­pli­ca­tions ­that ­occurred ­after ­carotid sur­gery in two ­groups of ­patients: a ­group of 120 ­patients under­gone intra­op­er­a­tive ­duplex com­pared ­with a ­group of 100 ­patients not under­gone intra­op­er­a­tive ultra­sound.
­Results. The per­cent­ages of ­early and ­late post­op­er­a­tive com­pli­ca­tions ­which ­occurred in the ­first ­group ­were respec­tively 7.5% and 4.2% con­trary to 10% and 7% ­occurred in the con­trol ­group.
Con­clu­sions. ­Duplex con­sti­tutes a selec­tive intra­op­er­a­tive ­method for ­carotid sur­gery, ­easy to use, ­enable to iden­tify and imme­di­ately cor­rect tech­nical ­defects.