endarterectomy

[ en-dahr-tuh-rek-tuh-mee ]

noun

, plural end·ar·ter·ec·to·mies.

1. the surgical stripping of a fat-encrusted, thickened arterial lining so as to open or widen the artery for improved blood circulation.

Word History and Origins

Origin of endarterectomy¹

First recorded in 1955–60; endarter(ium) + -ectomy

Example Sentences

The patients underwent carotid endarterectomies, a procedure in which the artery is opened and the plaque is cleaned out.

From Los Angeles Times

So if the Koch brothers succeed in privatizing the Veterans Affairs system, we should be having more endarterectomy surgery.

From New York Times

So it would seem that surgery to clean out the arteries, with a procedure called carotid endarterectomy, or CEA, would be a good idea.

From Washington Post

Medicare patients in McAllen received forty per cent more surgery, almost twice as many bladder scopes and heart studies, and two to three times as many pacemakers, cardiac bypass operations, carotid endarterectomies, and coronary stents.

From The New Yorker

In fact, to enter into CHEST-1, patients had to be deemed inoperable or had residual PH after undergoing pulmonary endarterectomy.

From Forbes