Ischemic Stroke in Patients With Asymptomatic Severe Carotid Stenosis Without Surgical Intervention

To the Editor In a recent study, the authors reported 133 ipsilateral ischemic strokes among patients with medically treated asymptomatic severe carotid stenosis who did not undergo surgical intervention after a mean follow-up of 4.1 years. During this follow-up period, 55.6% of the 3737 patients died; however, cause of death was not reported in this study. Could some of these deaths have been caused by major strokes, and is it possible that these events were missed?
Source: JAMA - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research