Background: Carotid Endarterectomy can be performed under local, regional or general anaesthesia. One of the most important effects of the type of anaesthetic used is on the systemic blood pressure. Although variations in blood pressure during and following carotid endarterectomy have been studied previously, the effects of awake carotid endarterectomy under local anaesthesia on blood pressure and its comparison with similar procedures under similar types of anaesthesia have not.
Methods: Peri-operative blood pressure measurements were collected from the records of 25 consecutive patients for each of the following five procedures; Carotid Endarterectomy under general anaesthesia (CEAGA), Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion under general anaesthesia (ACDF), Cerebral Angiography under local anaesthesia (ANG), Carotid Endarterectomy patients under local anaesthesia who were symptomatic (CEALAS) and Carotid Endarterectomy patients under local anaesthesia who were asymptomatic (CEALAA). The recordings were then analysed to find out if there were any clinically significant variations in peri-operative blood pressure.
Findings: There is a significant and consistent difference when the pre-operative value was compared with the 4 hour and 24 hour post-operative recordings between the local and general anaesthetic groups for carotid endarterectomy. Carotid endarterectomy reduces the systolic and diastolic blood pressures post-operatively when performed under local anaesthesia and only the diastolic pressure was reduced when performed under general anaesthesia.
Conclusion: The study provides evidence about the effect of carotid endarterectomy on the systemic blood pressure and its variations when performed under different types of anaesthesia. There is significant post-operative reduction in both the systolic and diastolic blood pressure values and the intraoperative fluctuation is minimal when local anaesthesia is used. Further studies are required to find out how this affects the long-term blood pressure and clinical outcome of the patient.