Arterial Blood Pressure Management During Carotid Endarterectomy and Early Cognitive Dysfunction

Abstract

Background A common practice during cross-clamp of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) is to manage mean arterial pressure (MAP) above baseline to optimize collateral cerebral blood flow and reduce risk of ischemic stroke. Objective To determine whether MAP management ≥20% above baseline during cross-clamp is associated with lower risk of early cognitive dysfunction, a subtler form of neurologic injury than stroke. Methods One hundred eighty-three patients undergoing CEA were enrolled in this ad hoc study. All patients had radial arterial catheters placed prior to induction of general anesthesia. MAP was managed at the discretion of the anesthesiologist. All patients were evaluated with a battery of neuropsychometric tests pre-operatively and 24hrs post-operatively. Results Overall, 28.4% of CEA patients exhibited early cognitive dysfunction (eCD). Significantly fewer patients with MAP ≥20% above baseline during cross-clamp exhibited eCD than those managed <20% above (11.6% vs. 38.6%, P<0.001). In a multivariate logistic regression model, MAP ≥20% above baseline during the cross-clamp period was associated with significantly lower risk of eCD (OR: 0.18 [0.07–0.40], P<0.001), while diabetes mellitus (OR: 2.73 [1.14–6.61], P=0.03) and each additional year of education (OR: 1.19 [1.06–1.34], P=0.003) were associated with significantly higher risk of eCD. Conclusion The observations of this study suggest MAP management ≥20% above baseline during cross-clamp of the carotid artery may be associated with lower risk of eCD after CEA. More prospective work is necessary to determine whether MAP ≥20% above baseline during cross-clamp can improve the safety of this commonly performed procedure.

Cognitive Reserve and the Risk of Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction

“…Overall, 64 full text articles were assessed. Of these, 40 did not meet our inclusion criteria and 9 articles (30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38) were excluded due to suspected duplicate reporting (19,26,27,39). In total, 15 articles were included.…”

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