Stroke Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Stroke, including details on treatment, recovery, rehabilitation, signs, symptoms. | ||||||||
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The risk of stroke following CABG: one possible strategy to reduce it?De Feo M, Renzulli A, Onorati F, Marmo J, Galdieri N, De Santo LS, Della Corte A, Cotrufo M Department of Cardiothoracic Sciences, Division of Cardiac Surgery, Second University of Naples V. Monaldi Hospital, Italy. OBJECTIVE: Stroke remains a devastating complication of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG): we evaluated whether a more aggressive diagnostic and therapeutic approach can reduce its incidence. METHODS: Between January 1998 and January 2002, 1388 consecutive patients underwent isolated on pump CABG with blood cardioplegia. Among the first 627 patients (Group A), Echo-Doppler study (DS) was performed only in selected patients (58) with history of cerebrovascular disease (CVD) and/or carotid bruit; in 761 patients (Group B), DS was performed routinely. Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) was performed in 45 patients in Group A associated to CABG during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and in 90 patients in Group B under local anaesthesia before CABG. Brain CT scan was performed in all cases with postoperative neurological symptoms. RESULTS: The two groups were homogeneous for age, sex, associated diseases, history of CVD, number of graft and CPB time. There were no differences in terms of hospital mortality between Group A (22/627: 3.5%) and Group B (21/761: 2.75%); p=0.5. Postoperative stroke was observed in 24/627 (3.82%) patients of Group A and in 2/761 (0.26%) of Group B (p<0.001). Hospital mortality for stroke was higher in Group A (12/627: 1.91%) than in Group B (0/761; p<0.001) as well as the incidence of non-fatal stroke (Group A 12/627: 1.91% versus Group B 2/761: 0.26% p=0.006). CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative DS, performed in all cases of CABG, followed by CEA under local anaesthesia in patients with critical carotid stenosis reduces the incidence of postoperative stroke. Published 2 February 2005 in Int J Cardiol, 98(2): 261-6.
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