Do standard carotid artery endarterectomy and primary closure technique cause early restenosis in diabetic patients?

Introduction: We aimed to investigate carotid restenosis in 2-year follow-up in diabetic and nondiabetic patients who underwent standard carotid endarterectomy with primary carotid closure and determine whether diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for early stenosis for this surgical procedure. Material and methods: We retrospectively assessed the data of patients who underwent standard carotid endarterectomy with primary carotid closure from the hospital registry and outpatient clinic follow-up between January 2006 and January 2012. The study included 25 diabetics and 25 nondiabetics, in total 50 patients. The control carotid Doppler ultrasonographies and/or computed tomography angiographies of the patients at postoperative 1, 6, 12, and 24 months were examined and a stenosis rate between 70% and 99% was regarded as significant carotid restenosis. Results: When the diabetic and nondiabetic group patients were compared for early carotid restenosis at 2 years, there were 3 (12%) patients in the diabetic group and 4 (16%) patients in the nondiabetic group with restenosis. A statistically significant difference in early carotid restenosis was not observed between the two groups (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Standard carotid endarterectomy and primary closure of the artery is a successfully performed surgical procedure in diabetic patients. We concluded that diabetes mellitus is not a risk factor for early restenosis in the diabetic patient population according to the results of our research.