Joint study of extracranial arterial occlusion. X. Internal carotid artery occlusion
Fields, W.S.; Lemak, N.A.
JAMA 235(25): 2734-2738
1976
ISSN/ISBN: 0098-7484 PMID: 946886 Document Number: 107606
One cannot now predict with accuracy the degree of deficit that may be anticipated following a carotid occlusion even when the condition of the opposite artery is known. When symptoms and signs occur, they are most likely related to the hemisphere or eye on the side of the occlusion. In patients with carotid occlusion, a higher rate of severe complications and mortality was encountered following arteriography than in the general study population. Among randomized patients with a carotid occlusion and a contralateral carotid stenosis, 63% of medically treated patients were alive at the end of a 66-month follow-up, whereas only 34% of surgically treated patients were still living. Surgical mortality was extremely high in patients with a carotid occlusion. Sixty-seven percent mortality occurred in patients undergoing surgery within one week of a cerebral infarction.