Redo carotid surgery: An analysis of materials and configurations used in carotid reoperations and their influence on perioperative stroke and subsequent recurrent stenosis.

OBJECTIVE: The ideal method of arterial reconstruction in operations for recurrent carotid disease after prior endarterectomy is unknown. The goal of this study was to review a series of carotid reoperations and to determine whether the surgical technique influenced the rate of perioperative stroke, late stroke, or secondary restenosis.

METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted of 82 carotid reoperations performed on 74 patients at our institution.

RESULTS: The patient population included 39 men (52.7%) and 35 women (47.3%), with a mean age of 67.5 years. The indications for redo surgery included transient ischemic attack or amaurosis fugax in 35.3% of the patients, stroke in 6.1%, and asymptomatic restenosis (>80%) in 58.5%. Patch angioplasty with or without redo endarterectomy was used in 47 cases (57.3%), with saphenous vein in 26 (31.7%), Dacron in 15 (18.3%), and polytetrafluoroethylene in 6 (7.3%). Interposition grafting was used in 35 cases (42.7%), with saphenous vein in 9 (11.0%), Dacron in 10 (12.2%), and polytetrafluoroethylene in 16 (19.5%). The perioperative complications included three strokes (3.7%). There was a trend toward increased perioperative neurologic complications with interposition grafting when compared with patch angioplasty (8.6% vs 2.1%), although this did not reach statistical significance. Long-term clinical follow-up was obtained in all cases with a mean duration of 35 months, with follow-up duplex scanning performed in 89.2%. The late failures of redo surgery included four significant secondary restenoses and five total occlusions. There was a trend towards improved long-term results with interposition grafting as opposed to patch angioplasty. However, the cases in which reconstruction was performed with a vein had a significantly higher rate of late failures (stroke, secondary recurrent stenosis, or occlusion) than those in which reconstruction was performed with any prosthetic material (26.7% vs 2.3%; P =.002 by Fisher exact test).

CONCLUSION: The use of autologous material for redo carotid surgery in any configuration appears to significantly increase the rate of subsequent recurrent stenosis or total occlusion of the operated artery. The reason for this finding is unclear but may be related to both host and technical factors. Prosthetic material may be more durable in the long-term for redo carotid surgery. Interposition grafting for redo carotid surgery may increase the perioperative neurologic complication rate to some degree; however, this was not statistically significant in this series. Interposition grafting may be a more durable solution in long-term follow-up than redo endarterectomy and patch angioplasty. A longer follow-up period will be needed to confirm this conclusion.