Blood flow changes in the intracranial artery of aged patients with severe extracranial internal carotid artery stenosis or occlusion

Objective To study the blood flow changes in the intracranial artery of aged patients with severe extracranial internal carotid artery(EICA) stenosis or occlusion and the clinical outcomes. Methods All 95 patients were divided into two groups according to their ages:the aged group(62 patients) and the middle age group(33 patients). Transcranial Doppler ultrasound examination was used to detect the mean velocity(MV), pulse index(PI) of middle cerebral artery in 95 patients. The data about the rate of the development of collateral circulation and the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale(NIHSS) score were recorded. Results Compared with the middle age group,the PI and NIHSS score of the old group were increased significantly and MV was decreased significantly (P0.05). There was no statistical difference in the rate of development of collateral circulation between the two groups (P0.05). Conclusions Compared with the the middle age patients, the aged patients had similar rate of the development of collateral circulation, lower MV,higher PI, and worse clinical outcomes.