ABSTRACT
The Brazilian National Forum on Carotid Surgery gathered the consensus of 15 Regional Chapters of the Braziliam Society of Angiology an Vascular Surgery.Established diagnostic method and newly developed tecchiques were discusses.Concerning the method of anesthesia, there was a concensus that the surgical skills, rather tan the type of anesthesia, are the main factors for good or bad results.Local anesthesis does not avoid complications caused by inadequte technique.There was a concensus that utilization of a temporary shunt in select cases may lower the incidence of post-operative neurologic deficits, wich not surpas 3 porcents.Angioplasty and carotid stenting were considered experimental procedures and with no approval of the medical community so far, except when performed under research protocols, submitted to boards of ethics and with informed consent.Finally, it was emphasized that the carotid surgery is to be perfomed in regional centers to which patients should be referred in order to archieve the best results.