The purpose of the present prospective, randomized, double-blind, double dummy controlled multicenter pilot study is to investigate whether abciximab, compared with aspirin, is able to reduce the rate of recurrent ischemic strokes before and during carotid endarterectomy [CEA] (primary endpoints); and the degree of carotid stenosis, number of microembolic signal (MES) counts, number of ischemic infarcts at diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and amount of intraluminal thrombus at pathological examination (secondary endpoints) in patients with ischemic stroke due to a >50% carotid stenosis who will undergo CEA.