What is vertebral artery disease?

What is vertebral artery disease?

Vertebral artery disease occurs when plaque builds up inside the vertebral arteries, the two arteries that provide blood flow to the back of the brain. Plaque builds up over time through a process called atherosclerosis. When plaque builds up, the arteries harden.

What is the most common cause of carotid artery disease?

Atherosclerosis causes most carotid artery disease. In this condition, fatty deposits build up along the inner layer of the arteries forming plaque. The thickening narrows the arteries and decreases blood flow or completely blocks the flow of blood to the brain.

What happens if the vertebral artery is blocked?

These arteries supply blood to the brainstem and the cerebellum. Like carotid artery stenosis, vertebral artery stenosis is highly dangerous and can prevent oxygen from reaching the brain. When the brain doesn’t get enough oxygen, a stroke, or even death, can occur.

What are the symptoms of vertebral artery occlusion?

Symptoms associated with vertebral artery occlusive disease include dizziness, vertigo, diplopia, perioral numbness, blurred vision, tinnitus, ataxia, bilateral sensory deficits, and syncope, all of which can be caused by other disease entities, including cardiac arrhythmias, orthostatic hypotension, and vestibular …

Can vertebral arteries be unblocked?

By restoring or enhancing blood flow through narrowed carotid or vertebral arteries, the risk of a potentially life-threatening stroke may be reduced or prevented. Surgery to remove the plaque from the artery has been the traditional treatment for restoring blood flow to the carotid arteries.

How is vertebral artery insufficiency treated?

Treatment for vertebrobasilar insufficiency

1. Medication and lifestyle changes. Patients who have vertebrobasilar insufficiency, a history of stroke, or TIA (“mini-stroke”) should quit smoking immediately, attempt to lower cholesterol levels through diet, and exercise regularly.
2. Open surgical repair.
3. Endovascular repair.

What is Bow Hunter’s syndrome?

Bow hunter’s syndrome (BHS), also known as rotational vertebral artery (VA) syndrome, refers to symptomatic vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI) caused by mechanical occlusion or compression of the VA at the atlantoaxial or subaxial level during neck and head rotation.

What is the treatment for vertebral artery occlusion?

Adequate visualization of the posterior circulation often requires angiography or magnetic resonance imaging. Intravenous thrombolysis and local-intra arterial thrombolysis are the most common treatment approaches used. Recanalization of the occluded vessel significantly improves the morbidity and mortality of VBAO.

Can you stent the vertebral artery?

Vertebral artery (VA) stenosis can be treated with angioplasty and/or stenting. Case series have suggested that stenting may be an effective treatment option, but nonrandomized studies are subject to publication bias.

How do you treat a blocked vertebral artery?

Endarterectomy is a well-studied surgical procedure that has been used to treat narrowed or blocked arteries since the 1950s. During the procedure a surgeon makes an incision in the neck, opens the affected vertebral artery, and removes any plaque that is blocking the vessel.

What is the cause of vertebrobasilar disease?

Atherosclerosis or “hardening of the arteries” is the main cause of vertebrobasilar disease. The narrowing of the vertebral or basilar arteries caused by atherosclerosis creates vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI), or an insufficient delivery of blood flow to the posterior structures of the brain.

What is a blocked vertebral artery?

A condition called atherosclerosis can reduce or stop blood flow in any artery in your body, including the vertebrobasilar system. Atherosclerosis is a hardening and blockage of the arteries. It happens when plaque that’s made up of cholesterol and calcium builds up in your arteries.

What is Rotational vertebral artery syndrome?

Rotational vertebral artery syndrome (sometimes referred to as Bow Hunter’s Syndrome) results from vertebral artery compression on rotating the neck. The commonest cause is a bone spur from a cervical vertebra, in combination with disease in the opposite vertebral artery. Rotational vertebral artery syndrome is rare.

What is the origin of the vertebral artery?

The vertebral artery usually originates from the posterior surface of the subclavian artery as the first branch of the subclavian artery, but it can also originate from the aortic arch and common carotid artery. Each vertebral artery arises from the first part of each subclavian artery in the lower part of the neck,…