I was wondering over all how dangerous is carotid surgery. I realize it is done all the time and all. Thanks.

Of course, it's hard to apply general statistics to an individual situation, especially without knowing the details of a particular situation. For example, it matters what the nature of the narrowing is, what the circulation is like on the opposite side, what other medical conditions the individual has. Generally, in the hands of an experienced vascular surgeon the surgery is quite safe. The most dangerous complication is stroke, which overall occurs around 1% of the time; generally much less than the risk of leaving a lesion alone. As implied above, particular anatomic situations may affect the risk.

Thanks again Sid for you help.