A long running study shows may prevent more strokes.
The latest results from the longest-running study yet confirm that surgery is better than artery-opening angioplasty in preventing strokes caused by blockage of the carotid artery, the largest vessel carrying blood to the brain. “In contrast with endovascular treatment [angioplasty], surgical patients had about half the rate of strokes in long-term follow-up,” said Dr. Martin M. Brown, a professor of stroke medicine at University College London Institute of Neurology, and a senior author of two reports in the October issue of the Lancet Neurology. Brown is a leader of the so-called CAVATAS study, which has followed 504 people with carotid artery stenosis — narrowing — who were randomly assigned to have either the surgical procedure called endarterectomy or angioplasty. – From US News & World Report