When Nettleton truck driver Jimmy Garrett learned he was at risk for stroke, doctors showed him an alternate route.

Jimmy had open heart surgery in 2019 to bypass clogged arteries. During his annual heart checkup at Cardiology Associates of North Mississippi, Dr. Michael Boler discovered Jimmy now had blockages in the carotid arteries in his neck.

Blocked carotid arteries occur when plaque builds up in the main blood vessels to the brain. Like blocked arteries to the heart can cause heart attack, blocked carotid arteries limit circulation to the brain and can cause stroke.

Dr. Boler referred Jimmy to vascular surgeon Dr. Joey Stinson at North Mississippi Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery.

Dr. Stinson explained treatment options and told Jimmy about a relatively new minimally invasive procedure called TransCarotid Artery Revascularization (TCAR) that offers faster recovery, less pain and smaller scars than traditional carotid artery surgery. NMMC performed the first TCAR procedure in Mississippi in February 2020.

While any repair of the carotid artery carries some risk of causing a stroke because of the repair itself, TCAR was designed to help minimize that risk.

“We perform the procedure through a much smaller incision at the neckline just above the clavicle instead of a longer incision on the neck,” Dr. Stinson explains. “TCAR is unique in that blood flow is temporarily reversed during the procedure so that any small bits of plaque that may break off are diverted away from the brain, preventing a stroke from happening.”

Surgeons then filter the blood before returning it to a vein in the groin and implant a stent directly into the carotid artery to stabilize the plaque and prevent future strokes.

After a short hospital stay, he was discharged home and bounced back quickly. Just over a week later, Jimmy and his truck were back on the road. Thanks to his doctors, the only blockages he has to worry about now are on the highways.