A researcher at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. has been awarded one of the largest National Institutes of Health grants in Mayo-Jacksonville history.
Neurologist Dr. Thomas Brott has been awarded $39 million to lead a seven-year international study of 2,480 patients from 120 centers in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia to see if medicine is as safe and effective as either surgery or stenting at preventing strokes caused by carotid artery plaque buildup.
The procedures are used to prevent strokes in patients with blockages who have no stroke warning signs.
"More than 100,000 carotid surgeries and carotid-artery stentings are performed each year in the United States on such patients at risk — and that may not be necessary," Brott said.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke awarded the grant to Brott and colleague Dr. James Meschia.
ADVERTISEMENT
The study, CREST-2, builds on CREST (Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy versus Stenting), which published results in 2010 and Brott also led. It showed surgery and stenting provided similar results in terms of safety and effectiveness. But those who got stents had more strokes and those with surgery had more heart attacks. People younger than 70 did better with stents, but those older than 70 did better with surgery.
