Surgery of acute occlusion of the extracranial internal carotid artery – a meta-analysis

Summary. Acute occlusion of the extracranial internal carotid artery (eICA) is associated with poor prognosis. Surgical desobliteration has not received adequate attention in recent years. We therefore conducted a literature review and meta-analysis of surgical studies published after 2000 that treated eICA occlusion surgically in an emergency setting. The search identified 10 relevant articles that included a total of 175 patients. The outcomes analysed included rates of recanalization (93 %), early neurological improvement (66 %), modified Rankin Scale 0–2 (62 %), mortality (5 %), early reocclusion (4 %), in-hospital stroke (4 %) and symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage (4 %). In conclusion, acute surgical desobliteration of eICA occlusion leads to high rates of recanalization and a majority of patients experience early neurological improvement and achieve favourable outcome. Rates of mortality, early reocclusion, in-hospital stroke and sICH are acceptable in the view of unfavourable natural history.