Introduction The role of carotid shunting in carotid endarterectomy is controversial. Many studies have concluded that patch angioplasty is preferable to primary closure, while others found that it had no value. The aim of this study was to report the results of our first series of patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy with a non-shunting technique and primary closure of the arteriotomy. Methods From October 2014 to October 2017, 63 patients with unilateral or bilateral carotid artery stenosis underwent carotid endarterectomy. There were 48 males and 15 females, the mean age was 63.16 years, and all were symptomatic. Conventional endarterectomy was performed without a shunt in all cases. All arteriotomies were closed primarily. We analysed the early and late outcomes of this procedure with at least 18 months of follow-up. Results Diabetes was the most frequent comorbidity. Most of the patients had a history of transient ischemic attack (49.2%) or stroke (44.4%). All patients had significant (moderate to severe) carotid artery stenosis. Postoperatively, 2 (3.2%) patients developed ischemic stroke, one (1.6%) suffered hypoglossal nerve injury, and one had a postoperative cervical hematoma. During follow-up, one patient developed asymptomatic total occlusion of the endartrectomized carotid artery at 18 months. Conclusion Carotid endarterectomy without shunting is a safe procedure. The short- and longer-term outcomes are not significantly inferior to those of the routine or selective shunting technique, and the rate of restenosis is not higher than that of patch angioplasty closure.

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Introduction: Cardiac injuries are one of the important causes of death in young population. With aggressive resuscitative therapy and emergency room thoracotomy, the salvage rate of these patients can reach 35%. In this case series the types of presentation, methods of resuscitation, surgical approaches, operative and postoperative outcomes are discussed. Patients and Methods: From January 2009 to January 2014 there were 3157 patients treated for thoracic injuries at Sulaimani university hospital, 14 patients had cardiac injuries. All admitted cases with central chest trauma were submitted to a thorough clinical examination, ECG and eFAST (extended Focused assessment with sonography for trauma) and/or transthoracic echocardiography. Results: Total of 14 cardiac injuries from 3157 causalities were identified, which is 0.44% of the total admissions. Male gender was predominant (85.7% vs. 14.28%) for females. Mechanism of injury was mostly penetrating (85.71%) among which stabs were majority (57.14%) while bullet and shrapnel each constituted (14.28%). Mean time of interval between the accident and our intervention was 2.96 hours. No diagnostic test was 100% specific and sensitive. Discussion: Cardiac injury regarded as a crucial injury because of its high fatality. It is reported that 10.3% of emergency surgical operations are thoracic type and about 1% of them are associated with cardiac injury. Although any penetrating injury to the thorax may injure the heart but those within the box are more suspicious. We conclude that cardiac trauma is a fatal injury but still if the facilities are available the mortality can be minimized.