Foreword

Article Outline

• Copyright

Stroke is a common clinical problem that affects a large number of people in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. It is frequently a result of atherosclerotic vascular disease and in these patients up to 30% is a result of carotid artery disease.

The standard therapeutic procedure in symptomatic patients has been surgical carotid endoarterectomy. However, the following two important therapeutic advances have occurred: (1) percutaneous angioplasty and stenting; and (2) aggressive medical therapy for atherosclerosis. As a result, the results of all therapies have improved with regard to complications that have been reduced and outcomes that have improved.

Drs. Yang and Holmes have provided an exhaustive review of the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and outcomes with surgical and percutaneous management of carotid artery stenosis. They have also included the results for all the randomized trials. The Editorial Board and I are grateful to them for this important contribution and to Dr. Patrick Whitlow^⁎ for his knowledgeable and extremely helpful comments.

• ⁎ Patrick L. Whitlow, MD, is Director of Interventional Cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH.