title: Prognosis in middle cerebral artery occlusion.
abstract: The natural history of MCA occlusion has become increasingly important since the surgical option of EC/IC bypass surgery has been available. The clinical course of 24 patients with angiographically-demonstrated occlusion of the MCA artery was reviewed. Eight patients presented with a major disabling stroke and five of these died during the acute phase of this ischemic event. The remaining 19 patients were followed for a mean of 54.2 months. There were five deaths in follow-up and two of these were due to subsequent strokes. Fourteen patients manifested a benign course: one of these had a further minor stroke and four had TIAs. Altogether, 3 strokes occurred during the follow-up period (2 fatal, 1 minor) and all were in the territory of the artery known to be occluded. Of those patients who survived their presenting ischemic event, 12 (63%) remained completely functional in terms of activities of daily living. MCA occlusion does not necessarily carry a poor prognosis with medial therapy alone and the role of bypass surgery hopefully will be clarified by the ongoing clinically randomized trial.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002539:Cerebral Arterial Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk