What is a carotid endarterectomy?

What is a carotid endarterectomy? So a carotid endarterectomy in its most simple terms is opening the neck, so the carotid arteries are part of a network supply the brain with oxygenated blood and patients particularly with the risk factors I mentioned earlier on who for example smoke again are older and usually gender related as well, tend to form atherosclerotic plaque in the carotid artery which is a mixture of macrophages, white cells, cholesterol, calcium deposits and sort of scar tissue. issue. The atherosclerotic plaque itself can sometimes become, and for a reason that we don't entirely know why, more active at certain periods and can shed small components or little bits of it can break off and enter the brain through the arterial circulation and that can cause stroke or mini stroke, which is when the symptoms last less than 24 hours. When a patient has an event like that, there's a general appreciation for the fact that the risk of a major fatal disabling stroke at two weeks is quite high after that initial event. So carotid endarterectomy, again, in its basic terms, involves controlling the artery, temporarily stopping flow through the carotid and removing that piece of plaque, such that it stops shedding debris into the brain, in essence. So that's the carotid endarterectomy.