Temporary balloon occlusion of the carotid artery combined with brain blood flow imaging as a test to predict tolerance prior to permanent carotid sacrifice.

PURPOSE: To describe the technique of using SPECT brain blood flow imaging to identify patients at risk for having strokes after balloon or surgical ligation of an internal carotid artery.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: 29 patients underwent temporary balloon occlusion of the internal carotid artery and blood flow imaging studies were obtained prior to sacrifice of the vessel; 11 internal carotid arteries were indeed sacrificed and form the basis of our study. Follow-up of these patients ranged from 3 to 65 days.

RESULTS: Three groups emerged: group I, patients with symptoms during occlusion and an abnormal blood flow study (one patient); group II, patients with no symptoms during the occlusion but with an unequivocally abnormal blood flow study (two patients); group III, patients without symptoms during occlusion and a normal or slightly abnormal blood flow study (eight patients).

CONCLUSION: Carotid sacrifice without initial and temporary balloon occlusion is unnecessarily risky. Imaging of blood flow in the brains of these patients can further improve the safety of occlusion procedures in the internal carotid artery.