Mortality and morbidity of consecutive surgical carotid revascularisations in octogenarians

Aim of the study. - Retrospective evaluation of the immediate and mid term mortality and morbidity of carotid surgical revascularisations in a population of octogenarians with severe carotid artery stenosis. Material and method. - Retrospective study of all patients 80 years old and more, consecutively operated for an internal carotid artery stenosis, from January 1991 to December 2003, in the Unit of Vascular Surgery of the Civil Hospices of Strasbourg. We analyzed the perioperative death and stroke rates at 30 days and the mid term survival. Results. - We performed 81 carotid revascularisations on 70 patients. The mean age of the population studied was 83.5 (+/- 2.8 years), (range 80-92). Twenty-four stenoses (29.6%) were symptomatic (23 transient ischemic accidents, I stroke), and 57 stenoses (70.4%) were asymptomatic. The mean degree of stenosis was 89.2 +/- 8.1% (based on NASCET evaluation). The main cardiovascular risk factor was arterial hypertension (95.7%). The overall perioperative death and stroke rate was 7.1%: 2 deaths, one of them related to a stroke, and 3 strokes (confidence interval: 2.4-15.9%). The perioperative death and stroke rate in the symptomatic stenosis group was 0%, and 8.8% in the asymptomatic stenosis group (p = 0.163). No specific risk factor of neurologic events has been found except ASA 3 or higher (RR: 3.84 [1.2-12.1)). The mean follow up was 3.6 years (range 2-11.3), no patient was lost to follow-up. The Kaplan-Meier 5-year survival was 52%. The mean time to death was 3.5 years after the operation. Only 16.7% of these deaths were stroke-retated. Conclusions. - Multicentric prospective studies, which have determined current recommendations for carotid surgery, did not include patients aged 79 years and older. In this particular population, the good results observed in our institution in the symptomatic carotid stenosis group would support the use of surgical treatment. The perioperative death and stroke rate observed for the asymptomatic group, clearly superior to current recommendations, suggests in our experience and especially for ASA >= 3, an individual evaluation to determinate the best indication. (c) 2007 Elsevier Masson SAS. Tous droits reserves.