Minimizing Stroke Risk with a TransCarotid Artery Revascularization
A stroke can change everything. “Loss of function on one side of the body, loss of speech, or loss of the ability to understand speech, also visual deficits. May be a blinding headache or the inability to walk,” said Rebecca Kirkwood PhD.
Smokers and those with high blood pressure, diabetes, or heart disease face an increased stroke risk. “As the carotid artery has a lot of plaque in it, a little bit of that plaque, can either flick off and go to the brain to cause a stroke, or can erode through the plaque, and expose the underline aspect of that plaque to the blood, and that can cause clots that can go to the brain,” said Vascular Surgeon Dr. Joe Anderson.
However, there are surgical procedures that can reduce that risk. “The historic way that we would take care of a carotid disease would be through a big incision in the neck where we go in and divide muscles and spread things and clamp the blood vessels out and clean them out and put a patch on them,” said Dr. Anderson.
Thanks to new technology, vascular surgeons can perform a TransCarotid artery revascularization minimally invasively with a smaller incision at the base of the neck. “One is this long compared to the other one that’s this long,” said Dr. Anderson. “More recent trial data would suggest that it’s just as effective as the old way and he’s gaining steam as more practitioners are using it.”
This minimally invasive approach is easier on patients and can help reduce their stroke risk. You can learn more by searching for vascular stroke treatment on leehealth.org.
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