Subtle cerebral damage after shunting vs non shunting during carotid endarterectomy.

To compare the extent of subtle cerebral damage (SCD) in patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy with or without shunt placement.Prospective, randomised study.We assessed a consecutive series of 96 patients undergoing endarterectomy for severe unilateral left carotid stenosis who had been randomly assigned to receive a shunt (48) or not (48). Eligibility criteria included age up to 80 years and Mini-Mental State Examination score >24 points. Patients underwent neuropsychological testing before surgery. Serum concentrations of S100 protein, neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured intraoperatively before and after carotid clamping. Finally, each patient underwent neuropsychological testing 3 weeks after surgery.Patients with and without shunt had similar serum concentrations of S100 protein, NSE and IL-6 as well as similar neuropsychological test scores, all p>0.05.There was no difference in subtle cerebral damage between patients randomized to receive a shunt or not.