Staged intracranial and extracranial revascularization

Abstract

Twenty patients with a combination of intracranial and extracranial cerebrovascular lesions were identified in a series comprised of 118 candidates for superficial temporal artery to middle cerebral artery (STA-MCA) bypass. Ten patients had internal carotid (ICA) occlusion and contralateral ICA stenosis, seven patients had combinations of ipsilateral lesions, usually ICA occlusion and external carotid (ECA) stenosis, and three patients had multiple lesions. Eighteen patients had a STA-MCA bypass performed; 11 of these had contralateral reconstruction for ICA stenosis, and seven had ECA stenosis corrected. Two additional patients became asymptomatic after ECA endarterectomy only and their proposed STA-MCA bypass has been postponed. There were two deaths, one early and one late. Eleven patients are asymptomatic, five are improved, one is unchanged, and one is neurologically worse.