Can cerebral blood flow measurement predict clinical outcome in the acute phase in patients with artherosclerotic occlusive carotid artery disease

: It has been thought that the clinical course of patients with acute carotid occlusive disease depends on their collateral cerebral blood flow (CBF) and duration of ischemia. However, there have been few clinical reports to prove this hypothesis. Therefore, we performed CBF study in patients with artherosclerotic carotid occlusive disease in the very acute phase, and precisely assessed the prognosis of those patients under intensive medical therapy. This prospective study included a total of 44 patients (72+/-13 years) who were admitted to our hospital between April, 2007 and December, 2008. To evaluate their initial CBF, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) studies were performed within 6 hours after the onset. All patients included in this study were medically treated and were periodically followed up by neurological and radiological examination. Moreover, in patients with reduced CBF (ipsilateral CBF/contralateral CBF x 100: %CBF< 80%), dobutamine-induce hyperdynamic therapy was performed. Multivariate analysis was performed to detect significant predictors for the occurrence of further cerebral infarction. Multivariate analysis showed that the occurrence of further infarction was associated with older age and smaller %CBF. Of 44 patients, 21 experienced further cerebral infarction within 10 days after onset. Fourteen out of 15 patients with %CBF< 60% developed cerebral infarction. This study showed that the prognosis of the patients with artherosclerotic carotid occlusive disease in the acute phase is associated with their initial residual CBFs. It may be difficult to stop the developed cerebral infarction in those patients with %CBF< 60% despite intensive medical therapy.