Carotid Artery Procedure
CEA can and should only be done by a professional medical practitioner. It takes place at a hospital and usually lasts for a few hours.
The procedure involves your surgeon cutting your artery to remove the blockage, whether it be plaques or blood clots. You will be given a general anesthetic, usually, the local anesthesia [5] that numbs only the specific part of your neck.
You might also be given local anesthesia if your surgeon wants to check your neurologic status during the procedure to observe how your brain responds.
To remove the blockage, your surgeon will have to clamp the artery operated on. Blood will still flow to the brain through the carotid artery on the other side of your neck. Your surgeon may also decide to reroute the blood flow around the artery being operated on using a tube.
After removing the blockage, the artery is stitched and patched back together and unclamped, and then stitches the opening in your neck. You may need to have a drain in your neck to remove any fluid that may still be there.
It would help if you discussed the patch material he would be using with your surgeon. The different patch materials include:
- Your saphenous vein. This would require another incision in your leg
- Bovine pericardial patch
- Synthetic material