[Double-sided occlusion of the great vessels of the neck after X-ray treatment in childhool (author's transl)].

This paper reports on two cases of bilateral blockage of the carotid vessels many years after X-ray treatment of the neck lymph nodes in childhood. The X-ray overdoses resulted in the damage and shrinkage of the skin and upper connective tissue of the neck. The time of delay from X-ray treatment to the first signs of vessel blockage was 45 years and 51 years. The first patient, male aged 62 years, has dilated vertebral arteries. Nine years after bilateral antiglaucomatous operation (with cataract removal) the intraocular vessel processes have slowed and there is good compensation of the carotid vessels as shown by CNS function. The second patient, female aged 62 years, exhibited moreover a block of the right vertebral artery and stenosis of the left vertebral artery. This resulted in acute blindness of the left eye and then of the right eye 1 1/2 years later. Puncture of the anterior chambers and Iridencleisis (right eye) were performed, but without success. Together, with loss of acuity, she had constantly increasing neurological deficiencies and psychopathological changes consistent with thrombosis of the left vertebral artery. Pathiological and anatomical stenosis in the region of X-ray treatment should have warranted surgical intervention to restore normal circulation.