Symptomatic patients remain at substantial risk of arterial disease complications before and after endarterectomy or stenting

Background and Purpose After carotid endarterectomy (CEA) or carotid artery stenting (CAS) in patients with transient ischemic attack or minor ischemic stroke, recurrent stroke risk falls to a low rate on modern medical treatment. Methods We used data from 4583 patients with recent transient ischemic attack or minor stroke enrolled in the TIAregistry. org to perform a nested case–control analysis to evaluate pre- and post-CEA/CAS risk. Cases were defined as patients with a CEA/CAS during the 1-year follow-up period. For each case, 2 controls with a follow-up time greater than the time from qualifying event to CEA/CAS were randomly selected, matched by age and sex. Primary outcome was defined as major vascular events (MVE, including stroke, cardiovascular death, and myocardial infarction). Results The median delay from symptom onset of qualifying event to CEA/CAS was 11 days (interquartile range, 6–23). Overall, patients with CEA/CAS had a higher 1-year risk of MVE than other patients (14.8% versus 5.8%; adjusted hazard ratio, 2.40; 95% confidence interval, 1.61–3.60; P<0.001). During the matched preprocedural period, MVE occurred in 14 (7.5%) cases and in 13 (3.5%) controls, with an adjusted odds ratio =2.46 (95% confidence interval, 1.07–5.64; P=0.03). In the postprocedural period, the risk of MVE was also higher in cases than in controls (adjusted P<0.03). Conclusions Patients with CEA/CAS had a higher 12-month risk of MVE, as well as during pre- and postprocedural periods. These results suggest that patients in whom CEA/CAS is anticipated are likely to be an informative population for inclusion in studies testing new antithrombotic strategies started soon after symptom onset.