What are the treatment options for carotid artery disease and cerebrovascular occlusive disease?
What are the treatment options for carotid artery disease and cerebrovascular occlusive disease?
Carotid artery disease treatments include:
- Lifestyle modification
- Medications
- Surgery/Carotid stenting to reduce the narrowing in the artery
Stroke:
- Learn more about stroke.
Nonsurgical Carotid Artery Disease Treatment Options
Lifestyle modification
To prevent further progression of carotid artery disease, lifestyle modification is recommended to limit all risk factors for development of atherosclerosis and carotid artery disease. These include:
- Quit smoking and using tobacco products
- Control high blood pressure and diabetes
- Have regular check-ups with your doctor
- Have your doctor check your lipid profile and get treatment, if necessary to reach a lipid goal of LDL less than 100 and HDL greater than 45 (these lipid goals may be modified if you already have evidence of plaque in the arteries)
- Eat foods low in saturated fats and cholesterol and avoid trans-fats
- Achieve and maintain a desirable weight
- Exercise regularly
- Control other stroke risk factors: limit the amount of alcohol you drink and if you have atrial fibrillation, you should be on blood-thinning medications
Medications for Carotid Artery Disease Treatment
Blood-thinner (anticoagulant) medications come it two varieties. The first are those that keep platelets from sticking together. The most common of these drugs is aspirin. All patients with carotid artery disease should be on aspirin to decrease the risk of stroke due to embolization. The other variety of blood-thinning medication is designed to keep the proteins in blood from clotting, and the most commonly used of these medicines is coumadin. Coumadin (warfarin) may be prescribed in situations where clotting of blood is more common such as in patients with atrial fibrillation or in patients with certain types of heart valves. If coumadin is prescribed, bloodwork to assess the clotting system of the blood will need to be checked regularly to ensure you are on the proper dose.