Anaesthesia for carotid endarterectomy - general or loco-regional?

Carotid endarterectomy has been widely used for the surgical treatment of carotid stenosis, and may be performed under either general or loco-regional anaesthesia. The greatest risks of carotid endarterectomy are the neurologic complications and the myocardial infarction. Anaesthetic and surgical techniques are constantly under scrutiny to try to reduce the relatively high incidence of morbidity and mortality of an operation which in itself is only preventative. Loco-regional anaesthesia is an alternative to general anaesthesia which has attracted considerable attention amid claims of a reduction in operative morbidity and mortality. This review describes the problems and some solutions for providing loco-regional or general anaesthesia for carotid endarterectomy.