The totally occluded internal carotid artery: indications for surgery.

Abstract Surgery of the totally occluded internal carotid artery has been controversial since the first case was reported by Fields, Crawford, and DeBakey [2] in 1958. Two cases and a review of the literature are presented to show that complete cerebral angiography should be the determining factor for operating in those patients with symptoms referable to the totally occluded internal carotid artery.