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Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) is a surgical procedure designed to clean out material restricting blood flow in the carotid artery. The carotid artery is a major artery passing through the neck and supplying blood to the brain. The procedure is performed to restore normal blood flow to the brain and to decrease the risk of stroke.
CEA is a fairly common procedure that requires proficiency and the use of complex equipment. Errors in surgical technique or management may lead to clinically significant complications, such as abrupt carotid occlusion with or without stroke, myocardial infarction, and death, to name a few. Higher volumes of this kind of surgical procedure have been associated with better outcomes (e.g. lower post-operative mortality), which suggests better quality.
As a volume indicator, CEA volume is a proxy for quality and should be used in conjunction with other measures to gain a more complete understanding of the quality picture.
This data has been risk adjusted. Risk adjustment is a process of accounting for differences in patient population based on many parameters such as age, sex, severity of illness, risk of mortality, and other attributes. Risk adjustment allows us to fairly compare hospitals across a wide range of healthcare measures.
Reference: [1] [4]