[Changes in the motor sphere after brain revascularization in ischemic lesions]

The authors studied the changes in the motor sphere in 75 patients with brain ischemia before and after creation of an extra-intracranial microvascular anastomosis (EICMA). Voluntary efforts of the hand and the volume of movements at all joints and the muscular tonus were measured. The last named was studied both by means of ordinary clinical manipulations and by special devices allowing determination of the value of the spastic component, rigidity, and the contracture component. Symptoms reflecting the condition of the motor sphere, the muscular tonus included, were found to be most informative among the variety of neurological signs. Mechanographic studies in dynamics provide the possibility for appraising the efficacy of the treatment and, evidently, for prognosticating its outcome. The operation of EICMA improves the patient's condition and even restores his working capacity if it restores circulation of blood in those parts of the brain the functioning of which was temporarily disturbed due to insufficiency of the blood flow.