ABSTRACT
The first mention of carotid artery surgery occurred in 1793 and is credited to Hebenstreit, who performed a carotid artery ligation for carotid injury (1). However, the first deliberate ligation of the carotid artery occurred in 1798 and was performed by John Abernathy (2). The ligation was performed on a patient whose carotid artery had been torn by the horn of a cow. In 1805, Sir Astley Cooper performed a cervical carotid ligation for treatment of a cervical carotid aneurysm. Unfortunately, the patient died of sepsis following surgery. Undaunted by this complication, Cooper performed his first successful ligation of the carotid artery in 1808 on another patient with a cervical carotid aneurysm. The patient suffered no untoward effects from the ligation and lived until 1821 (3).
