Steno-occlusive disease, or subclavian steal syndrome, refers to the restriction of blood flow through arteries near the brain as a result of atherosclerosis. The condition necessitates treatment via extracranial-intracranial (EC-IC) bypass surgery to restore proper blood flow.
Led by Dr. Tetsuro Sekine, PhD, of Nippon Medical School in Tokyo, the investigators sought to assess blood flow after patients underwent the operation. To that end, they acquired the 4D flow MRI data of 20 patients, three weeks after they underwent EC-IC bypass surgery.
The researchers were able to measure the patients' blood flow volume in various arteries formerly affected by the disease using computer software. After analyzing the 4D MRI data, they found that blood flow through the previously stenosed arteries showed statistically significant improvements compared with before surgery (p < 0.001) without significantly altering total blood flow volume.
"4D flow MRI revealed that blood flow volume of the ipsilateral superficial temporal artery significantly increased and total blood flow volume didn't change after EC-IC bypass surgery in the patients with the atherosclerotic steno-occlusive disease," Sekine told AuntMinnie.com. "The bypass artery and the native intracranial arteries (i.e., bilateral internal carotid arteries and basilar artery) supply blood flow complementarily after surgery."
