[Compensatory role of the external carotid artery in vascularization and revascularization of the brain following occlusion of the homolateral internal carotid artery].

An examination of 33 patients with internal carotid occlusion showed that this was a group of grave patients who had suffered an ischemic stroke with the lesion localization in the basin of the carotids. By using additional examination methods it has been found that it is also the homolateral external carotid which performs (along with the contralateral internal carotid) the principal compensatory function in the revascularization of the stroke-affected hemisphere. In patients with the internal carotid occlusion complicated by a stenosis of the external and an affection of the general carotids, sparing operations of applying a vascular prosthesis connecting the subclavicular and external carotid arteries were performed. These operations were aimed at letting the blood flow through the external carotid. In 9 patients with an isolated stenosis of the external carotid and the occlusion of the internal carotid, an endarterectomy from the external with resection of the internal artery was performed. After the operations the neurological symptoms regressed in 92.2% of the patients.