engleski

The-role of not-significant stenosis of carotid arteries in stroke patients

We studied 140 patients who were treated for ischemic stroke at the Department of Neurology in 1999. In the study we included the patients who had stroke and in whom the stenosis of carotid arteries between 40% and 75% was detected. The following methods were used: neurological examination, computed tomography (CT) brain scanning and color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) of carotid and vertebral arteries. Risk factors were assessed from lipidogram, blood glucose, presence of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. There were twelve (31 %) female and twenty-six (69%) male patients, with the mean age 67.8. The most prominent risk factors were hypertension (84%) and diabetes mellitus (28%). The stenosis of left, right, or both carotid arteries, was found in 38 patients (27%). Not significant stenosis of left carotid artery was found in 15 (11 %), of right in 9 (6%) and in 14 (10%) patients of both carotid arteries. The neurological examination pointed out that in the group of the patients with stenosis of left carotid artery, 46% of patients had paresis of left side, 46% had paresis of right side, while one patient was dysphatic. The patients with stenosis of right artery had almost the same neurological picture. In the group of the patients with who had stenosis of both carotid arteries, 50% had paresis of right side, 21% had left side, 21% had dizziness, and 14% had the signs of dementia. In the cases with similar stenosis of both arteries, the neurological deficit of right side was found in 75%. The half of patients with predominant stenosis of left artery, in 50% showed the signs of dementia, 25% had dizziness and paresis of left side was found in 25%, while the patients with predominant stenosis of right artery in 100% had the deficit of right extremities. Brain CT findings showed ischemia of the arterial territory to be the most common sequel of not significant stenosis of one or both carotid arteries (42%), followed by multiple lesions in 34%, while the signs of periventricular hypoperfusion were found in 23% of the patients.

non-significant carotid stenosis; stroke

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