Habib N, et al. - In this prospective observational study, researchers examined patients with severe carotid stenosis undergoing staged carotid artery stenting (CAS) with subsequent cardiac surgery, to determine risk factors for composite outcome of mortality, stroke or myocardial infarction in these subjects. In this study, a total of 643 consecutive patients with both symptomatic (i.e., with history of stroke) and asymptomatic severe carotid artery disease, who required cardiac surgery, were enrolled. Thirty days after the CAS procedure, cardiac surgery was planned. Findings offered confirmation to previously reported event-free survival rates. Following CAS, the observed composite outcome rate at 5 years and at 8 years were 26.3% and 47%, respectively. During long-term follow-up, the identified independent risk factors for the composite outcome were age ≥ 80 years, history of stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and kidney disease.