[Clinico-physiologic features of the initial manifestations of incomplete blood-filling of the cerebral circulation in young and middle-age cerebral atherosclerosis patients].

A combined study of the function of the central nervous system was carried out in 250 young and middle-aged patients (40-59 years) presenting initial clinical manifestations of cerebral vascular atherosclerosis. The age of the subjects allowed the authors to conditionally refer them to a group of patients with early cerebral atherosclerosis (ECA). The cerebral bloodflow was studied by examining such parameters as 133Xe clearance, functional REG, EEG, orientation reaction and visual evoked potentials: the findings obtained made it possible to specify the role of hemodynamic disorders in the formation of neurologic defect at this stage of the disease. The data presented point to a considerable acceleration of the aging process in patients with ECA, i.e., the so-called premature aging, manifested in the fact that such patients appear to be 10-15 years older than their age as judged by many age parameters. The authors recommend wider application of functional methods for the examination of the nervous system and hemodynamics aimed at determining the orientation and tactics of therapeutic and prophylactic measures with a view of preventing the progression and complications of the disease.