Staged surgery for the treatment of carotid aneurysm.

Extracranial carotid artery aneurysm (ECAA) is a relatively rare vascular lesion of the neck, and is usually found incidentally and is usually asymptomatic. Surgery is currently the first choice for symptomatic or growing ECAA, including open resection of the entire aneurysm, with or without arterial replacement and insertion of grafts. Ischemic stroke is the most serious complication after resection of ECAA. The preoperative Matas test facilitates the collateral circulation through the circle of Willis， which allows the brain to adapt to the hypoxic situation and effectively reduces ischemic stroke. We report a case of a young patient who underwent a staged surgery to treat it (the first stage was prophylactic carotid artery blockade, so called open Matas test), and achieved good results.