Five hundred twenty-six patients who underwent carotid endarterectomy
were separated by reviewing those 81 (15%) patients with an occluded c
ontralateral carotid artery and those 445 (85%) with nonocclusion. The
population characteristics and surgical indications were similar betw
een the occluded and nonoccluded groups. Ipsilateral plus contralatera
l perioperative stroke occurred during 11 of 445 operations (2.5%) in
which the contralateral carotid was patent, and during which no patien
t was hemorrhagic. Those patients with contralateral artery occlusion
had ipsilateral plus contralateral stroke in 4 of 81 cases (4.9%) (NS)
. Intracerebral hemorrhage was responsible for two of four strokes aft
er carotid endarterectomy with contralateral occlusion (p = 0.001). Re
stenosis to greater than 50% by duplex scanning was more rapid in the
occluded group with primary closure (no patch) (p = 0.025) and for men
(p = 0.025). Although perioperative safety is comparable, patients wi
th contralateral carotid occlusion may have a greater risk of intracra
nial hemorrhage and a more rapid rate of restenosis in some subgroups.