J I Ausman, F G Diaz, B Sadasivan, M Dujovny
Intracranial vertebral endarterectomy was performed on six patients with vertebrobasilar insufficiency in whom medical therapy failed. The patients underwent operations for stenotic plaque in the intracranial vertebral artery with the opposite vertebral artery being occluded, hypoplastic, or severely stenosed. In four of the patients, the stenosis was mainly proximal to the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA). In this group, after endarterectomy, the vertebral artery was patent in two patients, and their symptoms resolved; in one patient the endarterectomy occluded, but the patient's symptoms improved; and in one patient the endarterectomy was unsuccessful, and he continued to have symptoms...
March 1990: Neurosurgery