Information about changes of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after revascularisation as well how revascularisation procedure influences daily activities, cognitive functioning and general health is controversial. The objectives of our study were to evaluate and describe the HRQoL among patients with severe carotid artery disease; to evaluate the difference of HRQoL between symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid artery disease; and to explore the possible associations between some demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with carotid artery disease and HRQoL. The cross-sectional study included 33 patients who were referred for carotid artery endarterectomy. Data assessment was done one to three days before surgery. The HRQoL was assessed using the Medical Outcome Survey Form 36 (SF-36v2). Patients with symptomatic carotid artery disease had the lowest mean SF-36v2 scores for physical functioning, role-physical, general health and mental health. There was moderate correlation (rs = 0.441) between mean SF- 36v2 scores of mental health and Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA) scores. There is also indirect indication for probable correlation between MoCA test scores and mean SF-36v2 scores of social functioning, which might become statistically significant if more patients would be included. Patients with severe carotid artery disease in our study had lower mean SF-36v2 scores for role-physical, for bodily pain and for perception about their health status (general health). HRQoL in patients with severe carotid artery, stenosis was poorer in patients with symptomatic carotid artery disease and was not affected by gender and other clinical characteristics.

OBJECTIVES:This study aims to evaluate the impact of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) on cognitive performance in patients with severe carotid disease and depressive symptoms, and to explore the possible associations between certain demographics, clinical characteristics, and cognitive function and depression. MATERIALS AND METHODS:The study included 48 patients, who were referred for endarterectomy. Cognitive function was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scale, while depressive symptoms were assessed using the patient health questionnaire(PHQ-9) scale. An assessment of cognitive and depressive symptoms was performed 1-3 days before surgery, and then six months after. RESULTS:A paired sample t-test found that the difference in the mean MoCA score between the before ( =23.37; SD ± 3.27) and the after ( =24.69; SD ± 3.68) surgery results was 1.32 (95% CI = 0.48 -2.16; p= 0.003; Cohen's d value = 0.95). A paired sample t-test showed that a decrease in mean PHQ-9 score of > 10 for patients six months after CEA (7.5±4.6) was statistically significant (p= 0.019; Cohen's d value = 1.32) compared with the PHQ-9 scores at baseline (12.6 ± 2.8). CONCLUSION:Carotid artery endarterectomy seems to have beneficial effects on the course of cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms in patients with severe carotid artery stenosis. Demographic, clinical characteristics (age, gender, comorbidities, previous stroke) did not have impact on course of cognitive and depressive symptoms. A limitation in our study was that the number of patients was relatively small, therefore we intend to perform further study with larger case volume to estimate the impact of carotid artery endarterectomy on cognitive functions and depressive symptoms.