[Characteristics of collateral circulation in the ophthalmic artery before and after cerebral revascularization in patients with multiple occlusive diseases of the major arteries of the head].

The status of the collateral blood flow was examined before and after establishment of ++extra-intracranial microarterial anastomosis (EICMA) in 70 patients with occlusion of the internal carotid artery. Of these, 93% of the patients also had lesions of the other main arteries of the head. It has been established that in concomitant lesions of the main arteries of the brain, the role of the ophthalmic artery (OA) rises as to the compensation for the blood flow in the damaged hemisphere. Involvement of the ophthalmic anastomosis into blood supply of the damaged hemisphere was found to inversely correlated to EICMA function. Active functioning of EICMA brings about a decrease of the retrograde blood flow in the OA and in some cases, alteration in the direction of the blood flow in that artery, namely from retrograde to antegrade. Nevertheless additional blood flow via EICMA promotes elevation of the level of the cerebral blood flow in the regions of the middle cerebral artery basin, supplied via the microarterial anastomosis.