Early results following synchronous coronary artery bypass grafting and carotid endarterectomy: a propensity score matched comparison with solely carotid endarterectomy

Background: The optimal management for patients with concomitant severe coronary artery disease (CAD) and carotid artery stenosis (CAS) remains controversial. Methods: One hundred and two solely carotid endarterectomy (CEA) patients were matched to 34 synchronous CEA and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients according to the propensity score during 7 years. We retrospectively analyzed the baseline characteristics and 30-day results of both groups. Results: The two groups were similar with regard to age, sex, the degree of CAS, the incidence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), smoking, hyperlipidemia and symptomatic CAS. Higher incidence of contralateral >70% CAS occurred in synchronous CEA/CABG group (29.4% vs . 13.7%, P=0.038). More CAD was present in synchronous CEA/CABG group (12.7% vs . 100%, P vs . 0.55±0.09, P vs . 1.98±1.67, P Conclusions: Our study suggested that the 30-day mortality and morbidity rate of synchronous CEA/CABG was comparable to solely CEA. Our results add to the controversy of the outcomes of synchronous CEA/CABG procedure. Further prospective randomized controlled trial is needed to definitely evaluate the results of synchronous CEA/CABG.