Intervention versus standard medical treatment in patients with symptomatic occlusion of the internal carotid artery: a randomised oxygen-15 PET study

EJNMMI Research

Table 1 Clinical characteristics and angiographic findings of patients with symptomatic occlusion of the internal carotid artery ( n = 23)

	Intervention n = 12	Standard n = 11
Age (years, mean ± SD)	68 ± 10	60 ± 12
Male	12	7
Clinical features at presentation
Cerebral TIA	9	8
Ischaemic stroke	3	3
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg, mean ± SD )	159 ± 25	167 ± 29
Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg, mean ± SD)	84 ± 15	91 ± 13
Vascular risk factors
Hypertension^a	10	10
Hyperlipidaemia^b	10	10
Diabetes mellitus	2	3
Cigarette smoking (current or in last 5 years)	7	7
History of stroke >3 months ago	3	4
History of ischaemic heart disease	2	6
Angiogram
Contralateral ICA stenosis 50% to 69%	5	2
Stenosis 70% to 99%	1	2
Occlusion	0	1
Ipsilateral ECA stenosis ≥ 50%	4	1
Vertebral artery stenosis ≥ 50%	5	5
Collateral flow via anterior communicating artery	12	10
Collateral flow via ophthalmic artery	5	5
Collateral flow via posterior communicating artery	9^c	11
Leptomeningeal collaterals	7^d	9

^aBlood pressure > 160/95 mmHg or the current use of antihypertensive medication; ^bpatients with either a history of hyperlipidaemia, patients on statins or patients with levels of total cholesterol, triglycerids or high density lipoprotein cholesterol outside normal ranges; ^cthe presence of collateral flow via the posterior communicating artery could not be judged in one patient; ^dthe presence of leptomeningeal collaterals could not be judged in two patients.