Treating Carotid Artery Disease

Baptist Health Lexington: Treating Carotid Artery Disease in Lexington, KY

In carotid artery disease, plaque clogs the arteries of the neck, which can lead to stroke. Learn about Baptist Health’s treatment options for carotid artery disease.

Treating Carotid Artery Disease in Lexington, KY, HealthTalks Transcript

Matthew Janko, MD:
Carotid artery disease is disease that happens in the arteries of the neck. There’s one artery on each side, and that artery is important because it’s the highway of blood between the heart and the brain. As blood travels through the artery, there’s a risk that disease that’s in the arteries can travel up to the brain, causing a stroke. Risk factors for carotid artery disease include diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and a family history of having heart or peripheral arterial disease.

For disease in the carotid arteries, we try to treat with medicine first, but if the disease burden is high enough, we can do procedures to reverse the disease and reduce the risk of having a stroke. The procedure that we do for carotid artery disease is to put a stent in the artery to open up the blockage. The other more traditional operation that we do involves making an incision in the neck, looking at the artery itself and removing the plaque, and then patching the artery so that there’s normal blood flow through the artery — the way you might patch your elbow on your jacket if it gets worn.

We feel really good about the care we can deliver here at Baptist Health Lexington. We like to treat folks who have these problems because it prevents a lot of bad things from happening in the future.

Next Steps and Useful Resources

Find a Provider
Causes and Risk Factors for Stroke
High Blood Pressure and Heart Disease
Symptoms of High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)