[Cerebrovascular disorders--clinical aspects and follow-up]

The observation of the spontaneous course of the extracranial vascular process as a characteristic cause of cerebral ischemia has shown that vascular changes occur largely independently from the appearance of cerebral functional disturbances in the associated vascular territory. Hemodynamic factors play a minor role; while with the present standard methods available, embolic mechanisms can be insufficiently analyzed. The prospective developmental observations of morphologic and fluid-dynamic aspects and supplemental cell biology and metabolic analysis provide new criteria for an individual risk evaluation of the various mechanisms causing pathologically different cerebral function disturbances, and their analysis has crucial significance for a therapy plan.