Recently my father had a stroke. He was in Tenerife at the time and was admitted as an emergency to the hospital there where a blockage of his carotid artery was identified. The surgeon at that hospital put in a stent a device to force the artery open and allow the blood to run freely and this definitely saved his life. My father had previously had a triple bypass operation to his heart and the surgeon in Tenerife was amazed that a Doppler scan of his carotid has not been done at the same time to see if the problem that he had with plaque build up in the arteries of his heart, was also affecting his carotid artery (as this is apparently quite common). When we returned to the UK he had to have the other carotid artery operated on this time with a scraping out procedure as the surgeon in the UK said that they would not do the stent procedure as it was too risky. My question is why is that when a patient has a heart problem why do they not as a matter of course check the arotid arteries?

I had the same experience with my Mom! It was interesting that the doctor in the country in which she was taken ill (Italy) was also surprised that she had not had a Doppler scan to assess the state of the arteries after her heart attack. When I asked the doctor in London why this was not done as it seemed that one condition (Build up of fatty deposits in the arteries of the heart) was a good indicator of the other (fatty build up in that carotid arteries). My answer was that the carotid arteries were not investigated unless they became symptomatic, which in my opinion is too late! I do know however that my Mom would never have had her stroke if the blockage in her carotid artery had been identified earlier. it seems to me that investigating this would save a lot of money, medical and nursing effort and heartache in the long run. It seems like a no brainer to me!