Audit of long-term mortality and morbidity outcomes for carotid endarterectomy.

Abstract

There have been no Australian studies of long-term mortality status and cause of death after carotid endarterectomy (CEA) or, for survivors, quality-of-life. We first determined rate and cause of death for a cohort of patients four years after CEA. Surviving patients were surveyed to ascertain health status, using MOS SF-36. Of 238 patients who underwent CEA in our health service in 1995, 44 (18.5%) had died within four years. The majority of deaths (61.4%) were attributable to vascular causes. Of the surviving 162 patients (survey response fraction 90%), 10 (6.2%) subsequently had suffered a non-fatal stroke in the four years following their CEA. With respect to health status, Physical Functioning scores differed significantly by age (t = 2.65, df = 149, P = 0.01) as did Role Physical scores (t = 2.10, df = 142, P = 0.04). We conclude that patients undergoing CEA are at high risk of dying from vascular causes, inviting concerted efforts in discharge planning to co-ordinate optimal vascular risk factor management.