Roughly half were treated with surgery, known as carotid endarterectomy, which involves opening the blocked carotid artery surgically to manually clear out accumulated plaque.

• 其中大概一半患者接受了如颈动脉内膜剥离术的手术治疗，这种治疗方法是切开阻塞的颈动脉直接手动清除动脉粥样斑块。