[Evaluation of the spread of atherosclerosis in patients with arteritis. Implications for the therapeutic indications (author's transl)].

The immediate prognosis (operative risk of a revascularization) and also the long-term prognosis for the patient with arteritis depends on the spreading of the atheroma to other vascular regions (coronary or carotid arteries). Conventionally the initial evaluation is made by cervical Doppler examination, effort ECG and profile aortography. Cervical Doppler examination revealed in the present group of 402 patients significant stenoses on the arterial vessels leading to the brain in 67 cases (16.6%), including 13 asymptomatic stenoses. The effort ECG carried out in 140 cases was assurable in 72% of these, being positive in 19% of the cases in patients with no clinical or ECG history of coronary insufficiency. Profile aortography of 125 patients revealed atheromatous lesions in 39 (31%), in many cases multiple lesions: 13 cases in the coeliac trunk and mesenteric artery. The implications of these discoveries, as they affect therapeutic indications and in particular the justification of multiple revascularizations, have been discussed.