Does early or emergency carotid endarterectomy increase operative risk compared to delayed surgery in patients with recently symptomatic carotid stenosis?
Early carotid endarterectomy within the first week for neurologically stable patients with TIA or minor stroke does not carry a substantially higher operative risk than delayed surgery, supporting early intervention in this cohort.
Emergency endarterectomy for stroke-in-evolution has a high operative risk, but the risk may be somewhat lower in patients with crescendo TIA. Surgery in the first week in neurologically stable patients with TIA or minor stroke is not associated with a substantially higher operative risk than delayed surgery. More data are required on the risk and benefit of more urgent surgery for TIA and minor stroke and for early versus delayed surgery in patients with major nondisabling stroke.
Rerkasem et al. (2009) studied this question.