Low prevalence of collateral cerebral circulation in the circle of Willis in patients with severe carotid artery stenosis and recent ischemic stroke

摘要

Introduction : The circle of Willis is thought to play a key role in development of collateral flow in patients with internal carotid artery stenosis (ICAS). Aim: To assess flow in the circle of Willis in patients with recent ischemic stroke (IS). Material and methods : The study included 371 patients, 102 symptomatic with severe ICAS and recent IS (within the last 3 months) (group I) and 269 asymptomatic with severe ICAS (group II). Flow in the middle (MCA), anterior (ACA) and posterior (PCA) cerebral arteries and pattern of the cross-flow through anterior (ACoA) and posterior (PCoA) communicating arteries were assessed with transcranial color-coded Doppler ultrasonography (TCCD). Results : The ACoA or PCoA was less prevalent in group I than in group II (54% vs. 78%, p Conclusions : The ACoA and PCoA seem to play a key role in the evaluation of IS risk in subjects with severe ICAS.