Classification of collateral blood compensation pathways in patients with common carotid artery occlusive disease

Objective To explore the classification of collateral blood compensation pathways and collateral blood compensation characteristics in patients with common carotid artery occlusive disease. Methods The hemodynamic and imaging data of 20 patients with common carotid artery occlusive disease, admitted to our hospital from May 2016 to September 2018, were collected. The patients were classified according to whether they had internal carotid artery stealing and collateral circulation compensating for collateral flow. Results Internal carotid artery hematoma was found in 11 of the 20 patients; there was collateral circulation in 17 patients, including 10 branches of the anterior communicating artery, 9 branches of the posterior communicating artery, 11 branches of the posterior cerebral artery-middle cerebral arterial pia anastomosis, and 8 branches of the ocular artery. There were three types of collateral blood compensation pathways to be discovered in the 20 patients with common carotid artery occlusive disease; type I (n=3) was the collateral blood compensation pathway with simple internal carotid artery stealing, type II (n=8) was the collateral blood compensation pathway with internal carotid artery stealing and collateral circulation, and type III (n=9) was the collateral blood compensation pathways with simple collateral circulation. Conclusion In some patients with common carotid artery occlusion, the internal carotid artery stealing route exists in the collateral flow compensation. Key words: Common carotid artery; Occlusive disease; Internal carotid artery stealing; Collateral circulation