Abstract WP167: Changing Face of Carotid Revascularization Procedures in the United States

Background: Carotid revascularization procedure, carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid stent placement (CAS), are some of the most common procedures performed in United States and expected to change due to wider adoption of CAS. We performed this study to determine the changes in utilization of CEA and CAS in United States using nationally representative data. Methods: We used the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) from 2005 to 2014 to assess the changes in utilization of CEA and CAS over last 10 years in patients with symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis. NIS is the largest all payer dataset that includes diagnoses, admissions and discharge, demographics, and outcomes data of patients admitted to short stay non-Federal hospitals in the United States. We analyzed patterns of changes in utilization in various subsets of patients with carotid artery stenosis. Results: A total of 1,186,182 patients underwent carotid revascularization procedures during study period; 1,032,148 (87.1%) and 154,035 (12.9%) were CEA and CAS, respectively. The overall carotid revascularization procedures decreased over last 10 years (11.1% in 2005 to 8.4%in 2014, trend test p Conclusion: Although CAS is increasing in a disproportionate manner within patient subgroups in United States, overall carotid revascularization procedures have decreased for unclear reasons.