Adoumie article 2 - 02/22/05

A family member is having surgery to unblock the carotid artery in the neck. What is that?

The carotid arteries are a pair of large blood vessels in the neck that supply blood to the brain. Hardening of the arteries often occurs in those vessels placing the patient at risk for stroke. The diagnosis is usually made by ultrasound of the neck. This is usually performed either because the primary care physician has noticed an abnormal sound while listening to the neck or if the patient has symptoms of weakness or numbness in the hand or the leg (TIA's) or loss of vision to the eye.

The time-honored technique to correct this is by performing sugary by a vascular specialist usually by making a small neck incision and removing the blockage. This remains the technique of choice, although recently ballooning and stenting is emerging as a possible alternative in patients who present high risk for surgery.

Riad Adoumie, M.D.
Diplomate, The American Board of Surgery
Member, South Bay Independent Physicians Medical Group, Inc.
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