Dr. Albert D. Sam has had a chapter featured in a new book titled “Ischemic Stroke: Diagnosis and Treatment.” Below is an excerpt from his chapter titled “Treatment of Symptomatic Carotid Stenosis”:

Epidemiology of Carotid Disease and Stroke

The percentage of ischemic strokes resulting from atherosclerotic debris that embolizes from the extracranial carotid artery into the cerebral circulation is 20% to 30%(1,2). Atherosclerosis results from the adverse impact of modifiable risk factors, resulting in inflammation within the circulatory system that causes endothelial injury whose end result is calcium deposition within the arterial wall. These risk factors for developing carotid atherosclerotic disease include smoking, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes.

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The risk for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAAs) increases dramatically after the age of 60. As the aneurysms enlarge, they can eventually rupture, and when they do, will almost always result in death. That’s why it is so important to screen for the presence of an AAA, and more so if you have one of the risk factors listed below. Once diagnosed, your healthcare provider will monitor your aneurysms and might suggest that you get it repaired before it reaches a size when it can rupture.

In 1985, my thirty-something, hard-working parents, who lived in New London County at the time, smoked cigarettes regularly. I was five years old. It broke my heart. I was so anti-smoking that I pestered them daily, begging them to stop. I thought smoking cigarettes was a death sentence and I was so afraid to lose my parents. So, Dad stopped. Then, Mom stopped. And now their smoking seems like ancient history.

Millions of Americans suffering from chronic kidney disease are treated with a process called Renal Dialysis. The process requires the patient to be connected to a machine for up to four hours while the blood in the body is cleaned by the machine and returned to the body.The human kidney is responsible for filtering the blood of unnecessary toxins, maintaining proper electrolyte balance, and regulating blood pressure. Chronic kidney failure can result from diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, atherosclerosis, familial genetic disorders, auto immune disease, or even from regular use of some medications. Until a patient can receive a transplant, renal dialysis is the intervening process by which the blood is filtered in the absence of fully functional kidneys.