Extracranial arterial reconstruction for chronic cerebral ischaemia. An audit of experience in the Durban Teaching Hospitals.

Experience with 147 operations for extracranial cerebral arterial reconstruction in 122 patients over a 36-month period is presented. The commonest condition in white, black and indian patients was atherosclerosis, although 8 of the 23 black patients had nonspecific aorto-arteritis (Takayasu's disease). Operations within the mediastinum included bypass from the ascending aorta to major arterial branches (14), brachiocephalic endarterectomy (1), and replacement grafts of carotid (1) and subclavian (1) arteries. Cervical procedures included carotid endarterectomy or reconstruction (115), carotid-subclavian artery bypass (13) and axillary-to-axillary artery crossover (2). Both early and longer-term results are comparable with those reported in the surgical literature.