Angiographic features and clinical significance of kinking of extracranial internal carotid artery / 中华放射学杂志

Objective To investigate the clinical manifestations, angiographic features and clinical significance of kinking of extracranial internal carotid artery (ICA). Methods The clinical and radiological data of 21 patients with kinking of extracranial ICA were retrospectively reviewed in our hospital from April 2003 to July 2007. Fisher exact test was performed. Results Of the 21 patients, 7 hod no clinical symptoms, the other 14 showed manifestations of cerebral iachemia with varying degree. One of the characteristic clinical manifestations that neck rotation or specific positions of head and neck might induce the occurrence of clinical symptoms was found in 5 cases. The whole-brain coverage DSA accurately showed the location of kinking of extracranial ICA and the degree of vascular stenosis. In patients with α < 66%, 80% > α≥ 66% and α≥ 80%, clinical symptoms were found in 3 out of 5,7 out of 10 and 4 out of 6 patients, respectively. Fisher exact test revealed that the positive rates of clinical symptoms in three groups had no significant difference (P > 0. 05). Conclusion Kinking of extracranial ICA is a frequent vascular morphologic variation, and it is also a kind of potential disease. The whole-brain coverage DSA is a relatively reliable method to detect this variation.

The clinical observation of local intraarterial thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke of the anterior circulation / 中国综合临床

Objective To evaluate the short-term outcome of local intraarterial thrombolysis in patients with acute ischemic stroke of the anterior circulation. Methods 24 patients with acute ischemic stroke of the anterior cir-culation within 8 hours were treated by local intraarterial thrombolysis. Arterial recanalization was divided into total, partial and occlusive respectively according to angiography. Evaluation of clinical outcome was performed on the 30th day after thrombolysis,and was classified as good for Modified Rankin Scale (MRS) scores of 0 to Ⅲ and poor for MRS scores of Ⅳ to Ⅵ. Results Total recanalization was obtained in 54.2 % of patients, partial recanalization in 25.0%. Clinical outcome was good in 15 patients (62.5%). Cerebral hemorrhage occurred in 4 patients (16.7%). Four patients died (16.7%). Conclusion Local intraarterial thrombolysis is an effective method for treatment of a-cute iachemic stroke of the anterior circulation. It needs further practice and long-term follow-up study on safety and long-term efficacy.