Carotid Artery Stenosis: Current and Emerging Treatments (Neurological Disease and Therapy)

Providing a thorough overview of rapid developments in medical therapy, surgery, and angioplasty, this reference provides a complete review of carotid artery stenosis treatment, as well as a clear overview of carotid surgery and stenting. Offering chapters by seasoned authorities on epidemiology, imaging with ultrasound and angiography, cholesterol lowering, blood pressure management, homocysteine treatment, and diet modification, this guide is a stand-alone source for current information and understanding of this burgeoning science.Tracking the current state of the field, as well as identifying new research avenues, this guide analyzes recent data concerning antithrombotic therapy ... emerging data on the benefits of cholesterol-lowering agents in patients with CAS...angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, as well as medications which lower homocysteine...advances in surgical treatment such as less-invasive CEA, local anesthesia, and routine patching and synthetic grafts...new studies on carotid angioplasty and stenting, catheter design, and distal protection devices...surgery with carotid endarterectomy for symptomatic and asymptomatic stenosis, as well as ECIC bypass surgery for carotid occlusion...and surgical and interventional controversies.

Carotid artery stenosis (CAS) has been found to be a major cause of ischemic stroke and is thought to cause about 20 per cent of the two million strokes in the US and Europe. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the authors of these 20 articles cover the latest in studies of CAS and include such topics as epidemiology, pathophysiology, imaging, antithrombotic therapy, stroke prevention, management of hypertension, diet, angiogenesis and angiogenic growth factors as future therapies for cerebrovascular disease, risks and benefits, surgical controversies, symptomatic occlusion, stenting, and endovascular therapies. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Samer F Najjar, MD(Northwestern Memorial Hospital)
Description:This book provides a thorough overview of the rapid developments in the diagnosis and treatment of carotid artery stenosis. The medical, surgical, and endovascular therapies are well addressed.
Purpose:The aim is to provide a multidisciplinary approach to treatment. The editors and authors have accomplished this goal in a manner that is concise and instructive, but there are an overwhelming number of chapters written by neurologists with only one written by a surgeon. Few authors are from a cardiology or interventional radiology background.
Audience:The target audience includes practitioners caring for patients with carotid artery disease. This includes neurologists, vascular and neurosurgeons, cardiologists, internists and interventional radiologists. The primary audience, however, is the neurologist.
Features:The book covers the topic of carotid artery stenosis in detail. The 20 chapters are short (about 14 pages each), evidence-based, and contain useful graphs/tables with up-to-date references. The book begins with general concepts such as the noninvasive imaging and diagnostic angiography, then medical management of CAS with statins, diet, and antithrombotic therapies, and then finishes with thorough coverage of the current treatment modalities of carotid surgery and stenting. There are two useful chapters on surgical and endovascular controversies in the treatment in carotid disease. The chapters are concise and the authors succeed in presenting the information in a clear and well-balanced manner. The references are excellent and updated. The main strength of this book is its brief but deep discussion of the topics, thereby providing the reader with a solid review in a relatively short time. Despite the fair and balanced coverage of the two chapters on the risks and benefits of carotid endarterectomy, they should have been assigned to an author with surgical background.
Assessment:I enjoyed this book, and because of its relatively small size, it is an easy read with excellent and updated coverage of topic of carotid artery stenosis. This book will fill an unmet need for a concise overview of the topic written from a multidisciplinary perspective. This is definitely a worthwhile goal because of the rapid changes in carotid disease, and the authors have done a credible job of meeting that objective.

Providing a thorough overview of rapid developments in medical therapy, surgery, and angioplasty, this reference presents a complete review of carotid artery stenosis treatment, as well as a clear overview of carotid surgery and stenting The knowledge of the relationship between atheromatous disease of the extracranial carotid and vertebral arteries and the occurrence of ischemic stroke goes back to the nineteenth century.