Extracranial-intracranial arterial bypass for middle cerebral artery stenosis and occlusion

Forty-seven patients with middle cerebral artery (MCA) stenosis and 18 patients with MCA occlusion underwent extracranial-intracranial arterial bypass procedures. Patients presented with a history of transient ischemic attacks (TIA's), reversible ischemic neurological deficits, TIA's after initial stroke, stroke-in-evolution, or completed stroke. Angiography revealed that the MCA stenosis ranged from 70% to over 95%. Two patients (4.3%) in the stenosis group had a perioperative stroke (within 30 days of operation). There was no perioperative mortality. In the occlusion group, no patient had a perioperative stroke, and one patient (5.5%) died from a non-neurological disease. The TIA's resolved completely in 90% of the patients with stenosis and in 91.6% of those with occlusion. No patient with MCA stenosis had a late ipsilateral stroke, although five had a contralateral or vertebrobasilar stroke. One patient with MCA occlusion had a late ipsilateral stroke. The bypass patency rate at late follow-up review was 100%. The results of intracranial-extracranial arterial bypass procedures appear to be similar for patients with either stenosis or occlusion of the MCA. Symptomatic relief of TIA's was excellent and, in two patients with progressive stroke-in-evolution, the deficit was stabilized. The incidence of postoperative ipsilateral stroke was low in patients with TIA's alone or with TIA's after an initial stroke, but among patients with completed stroke, improvement was confined to slight reduction in the neurological deficit.