Diagnosis of latent atherosclerotic stenosing lesions of large cerebral blood vessels in the flight personnel

In order to detect stenotic lesions of cerebral large vessels, 207 subjects, primarily pilots, were examined by ultrasonic Dopplerography. The first group with cerebral atherosclerosis at stage 1 included 90 pilots; 20 of them (22%) showed signs of stenotic lesions of the carotid and spinal arteries. The second group with cerebral atherosclerosis at stage II-III included 117 subjects; 14 of them exhibited interior carotid artery occlusion and 49 stenosis of one or several large vessels. Using clinical data, it was concluded that latent stenosis of cerebral large vessels are frequent in crew-members even at early stages of cerebral atherosclerosis and, therefore, may be risky for flight safety. Ultrasonic Dopplerography, being a fairly simple and accurate technique to detect stenotic vessels, is recommended for large-scale examinations of the flying personnel with cerebral atherosclerosis.