Carotid bruits: their significance in the cervical radicular syndrome.
Routine physical examination of 600 patients referred with complaints of neck or shoulder pain included auscultation of both carotid and subclavian arteries. A treatment regimen including consideration of therapeutic cervical traction was precluded in 11 patients when unilateral carotid bruits were heard. Subsequent testing including radioisotopic carotid blood flow studies, and arteriography demonstrated 1 thoracic outlet syndrome, 1 arteriovenous malformation, 1 scarring secondary to radical neck dissection, 1 extrinsic pressure from an epidermoid carcinoma, 5 partial carotid occlusions secondary to intra-arterial plaque formation, and 2 normal carotid contrast studies. Successful surgery in all five of the stenotic patients and in the case of arteriovenous malformation aborted what might have otherwise been a less satisfactory outcome.
D000328:Adult; D001165:Arteriovenous Malformations / Q000150:complications; D001314:Auscultation; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011859:Radiography; D013348:Subclavian Artery / Q000503:physiopathology; D013577:Syndrome; D013895:Thoracic Arteries / Q000503:physiopathology