Published 29 June 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2607
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b2607

Letters

Time to carotid endarterectomy

Don’t forget amaurosis fugax

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

Eye departments do not appreciate the urgency of carotid Doppler imaging in patients with amaurosis fugax.¹ In a recent departmental audit 18% of referrals from the eye department for Doppler imaging had a stenosis of >70% and 11% underwent carotid endarterectomy. The average waiting time for imaging was 9.6 days (range 1 to 23 days).

Rapid access care pathways need to be developed for these patients to access Doppler imaging urgently, particularly those who are at high risk and with multiple NASCET (North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial) criteria. Ophthalmology departments have been busy implementing the guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on treating wet age related macular degeneration and have not been focusing on stroke prevention.

Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b2607

¹ Oxford Eye Hospital, LG-1 West Wing, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, ² Medical School Office, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU

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Competing interests: None declared.

1. Halliday AW, Lees T, Kamugasha D, Grant G, Hoffman A, Rothwell PM, et al, on behalf of Carotid Endarterectomy Steering Group; Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit, Royal College of Physicians; Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Waiting times for carotid endarterectomy in UK: observational study. BMJ 2009;338:b1847. (4 June.)[Abstract/Free Full Text]

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Waiting times for carotid endarterectomy in UK: observational study

Alison W Halliday, Tim Lees, Dora Kamugasha, Robert Grant, Alex Hoffman, Peter M Rothwell, John F Potter, Michael Horrocks, Ross Naylor, Anthony G Rudd on behalf of Carotid Endarterectomy Steering Group; Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit, Royal College of Physicians; Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland
BMJ 2009 338: b1847. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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