WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., May 7 (UPI) -- New evidence that surgery to open narrowed neck vessels can reduce stroke risk dramatically means more should have the treatment, researchers say.
It also points out the need for screenings to diagnose the condition, according to the researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
"We now know definitively that we can reduce stroke risk by half with surgery to 'clean out' narrowed arteries leading to the brain -- even in patients who have no symptoms," says neurologist James Toole. "We should offer this option to more patients, as well as begin screening seemingly healthy individuals for stroke risk."
Toole's comments were in response to a report in this week's The Lancet on the "Asymptomatic Carotid Surgery Trial," a study based in England of more than 3,000 patients. The results, that surgery to remove fatty deposits from narrowed vessels in the neck can significantly reduce stroke risk, were nearly identical to the findings of a study that Toole coordinated in the United States and Canada.
