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www.fdanews.com/articles/82741-stents-or-scalpel-doctors-divide

STENTS OR SCALPEL? DOCTORS DIVIDE

November 29, 2005

After Linda Packer, a 64-year-old social worker in Manhattan, fell down twice over the Memorial Day weekend and felt vaguely unwell, a series of tests revealed a serious problem: one of the two main arteries carrying blood to her brain was more than 80 percent blocked by plaque. Hers was a fairly advanced case of a condition, known as carotid artery disease, that becomes increasingly common with age and has been linked to 25 percent of the 700,000 strokes in this country each year. It also leads to millions of cases of mini-stroke, memory loss and other brain impairments that interfere with daily life.
International Herald Tribune