Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has introduced carotid artery surgery, which restores adequate blood flow to the brain by clearing arteries in the neck that have narrowed or become blocked.

The procedure, which will be performed under local anaesthetic by consultant vascular surgeon Khalid Makhdoomi, has proved to be more effective at preventing strokes than blood-thinning medication alone during trials.

Patients are admitted to hospital the day before their operation, which lasts between one and two hours, and are then monitored afterwards using a specialist machine called a Transcranial Doppler.

Mr Makhdoomi told Chad: "The operation has far-reaching benefits for patients, not least that it reduces the risk of them having a stroke to the same level as anybody else in their age group.

"While not every patient needs it, for those who do it's better than medication. Trials in Europe and the USA confirmed that patients benefited in the longer-term from this surgery rather than remaining on blood-thinning tablets."