Objective: The long-term outcomes of primary carotid artery closure after carotid endarterectomy (CEA) have not been sufficiently studied. This prospective study was performed to analyze the 5-year outcomes of the non-shunting and primary arterial repair technique for CEA.
Methods: This study involved 150 patients who underwent CEA with the primary arterial closure technique without arterial shunting and completed 5 years of follow-up.
Results: The patients comprised 107 men and 43 women. The 30-day postoperative course was uneventful in 147 (98.0%) patients; however, cerebrovascular accidents occurred in 3 (2.0%) patients. With respect to the long-term results, most cases of restenosis at 5 years were <50%. Two patients developed asymptomatic total internal carotid artery occlusion. Eleven deaths occurred (mortality rate of 7.3%); one death (0.7%) occurred in the first 30 days.
Conclusion: Primary arteriotomy closure provides very good long-term patency. Routine use of patch closure is unnecessary.
Keywords: Endarterectomy; carotid artery; follow-up study; non-patch technique; non-shunting technique; primary closure.