[Repair of internal carotid artery stenosis. Results of reconstruction in 129 patients].

128 Patients were operated upon consecutively since 1965 for lesions of the carotid bulb (stadium I.: n = 21;stadium II: n = 45;stadium III: n = 33; stadium IV:n - 29), a postoperative neurological deficit was noted in 4,7%, the cerebral lethality was 1,9%. The procedure was done in general anesthesia with moderate elevation of the systemic blood pressure. In case the pressure readings obtained in the stump of the internal carotid artery were below the level of 50 mm of mercury an intraluminal shunt was used. Considered an average lethality of 7% per year 48 patients died during follow-up, 5 for cerebral. 10 for internal medical reasons, in 33 cases the results of post mortem examination was not available. After a mean follow-up time of 7 years 41 patients were re-evaluated 4,8 recurrent stenoses, 2,4% intracranial and 9,4% changes in the contralateral carotid artery were detected. Only 4,8% showed abnormalities on neurological examination, which underscores the importance of non invasive diagnostic tools.