Introduction
: Case report: 63 year old African American woman with history of hypertension presented with acute onset of expressive aphasia. Her neurologic exam and NIHSS was significant for moderate aphasia with paraphasic errors and impairment of repetition. She was outside the treatment window for IV thrombolytic therapy. CT angiography of the head and neck in the ED showed moderate 60–70% stenosis of the left internal carotid artery secondary to a carotid web. She was admitted to the stroke service and started on DAPT with ASA and clopidogrel. MRI brain was obtained, which confirmed a small acute infarct in the posterior margin of the left sylvian fissure.
Methods
: Intervention and Follow‐up: Vascular surgery and interventional neurology were consulted to discuss the treatment options for the patient’s carotid web. Give the unique nature of the patient’s web with its triple lumen appearance, carotid endarterectomy (CEA) was favored over stenting, and the patient underwent left CEA. There were no immediate complications, and she was continued on DAPT for 21 days, then ASA monotherapy. One month follow‐up carotid dopplers of the left ICA showed patent flow without significant stenosis. On follow‐up evaluations at 3 and 12 months, the patient’s speech deficits had improved significantly and she reported no new stroke‐like symptoms.
Results
: Literature Review: Carotid webs (CaW) may be a potentially underrecognized cause of ischemic strokes. CaW are thin, fibrous tissue that extends from the wall of the carotid artery into the lumen in a shelf‐like projection. It is believed to be a variant of fibromuscular dysplasia. It is hypothesized that blood stasis on the downstream surface of the web may result in thrombus formation and thromboembolic stroke. The optimal treatment for CaW remains unclear, however there is some evidence to suggest that antiplatelet therapy alone may be insufficient to prevent recurrent stroke, with rates of recurrent stroke of 30–50% from a systematic literature review. Furthermore, there have been no reports of CaW positive remodeling over time, so patients likely remain at elevated risk for ischemic stroke without intervention.
Conclusions
: Discussion: Case series as well as systematic literature review have shown high rates of stroke recurrence in CaW patients treated with medical therapy alone. Data is still limited, however, CEA and carotid artery stenting (CAS) appear to be safe and effective revascularization procedures for CaW, with potentially significant reduction in recurrent stroke risk. CEA was preferred in our patient case due to the triple‐lumen appearance of the carotid web (Figure). CaW is a relatively underappreciated cause of ischemic strokes and the optimal management is not well‐established, however medical therapy alone appears to be sub‐optimal with high rates of stroke recurrence. Our patient case shows that carotid revascularization can be safe may be effective in preventing stroke recurrence.
An Ambiguous Entity-A Case Report
