Hemodynamic assessment and surgical correction of the kinked internal carotid artery.

A fluid-filled oculoplethysmography (OPG) was used to assess carotid artery flow in 50 patients with symptoms of cerebral ischemia. Based on positioned OPG and angiographic studies, 20 patients had angioplastic procedures. At operation, positional electromagnetic flow measurements were obtained to confirm the preoperative noninvasive findings. Electromagnetic flow reductions were identified in 18 patients with positive preoperative positional OPGs. A high correlation between noninvasive testing data and intraoperative flow measurements suggests that positional OPG testing is helpful in identifying hemodynamically significant kinking of the internal carotid artery.