Introduction:

Carotid disease is one of the onset manifestations of cerebrovascular disease, which is among the main causes of morbidity, mortality and disability worldwide. Carotid endarterectomy is the gold standard surgical treatment.

Objective:

To characterize postoperative complications in the early phase of carotid endarterectomy.

Methods:

A descriptive and retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out with 35 patients admitted to the Institute of Angiology and who underwent carotid endarterectomy due to carotid disease. Sociodemographic, clinical and surgical variables were analyzed. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used.

Results:

There was a predominance of males (72.2%) and of patients aged more than 60 years. The most frequent comorbidities were arterial hypertension (94.4%), smoking (77.8%), and peripheral arterial disease (61.1%). 50% of all patients presented complications in the early phase of surgery and without mortality; the most frequent was wound hematoma (44.4%), accounting for 50% of conventional endarterectomies. Those operated on with general anesthesia presented a greater number of complications, except for hematoma, observed more in the use of local-regional anesthesia. Postoperative stroke occurred in patients under general anesthesia.

Conclusions:

The characteristics of postoperative complications identified in the early phase of carotid endarterectomy were associated with the types of endarterectomy, anesthesia, and comorbidities.

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