Reversible ischemic neurological deficit and minor strokes before and after EC/IC bypass surgery. A...

Thirty-three patients with reversible ischemic deficits or completed minor strokes had their cerebral function measured neuropsychologically a few days before and 3 months after extra-intra cranial bypass surgery. Three months post-operatively bypass patency was demonstrated by angiography. Ten patients were operated on the right side and 23 on the left side. The right hemisphere patients were found to be neuropsychologically intact or only slightly impaired before, as well as after, the operation whereas the left hemisphere patients pre-operatively had impaired verbal sequential thinking, reduced capacity for repetition, verbal learning, and mental arithmetic. Post-operatively they improved significantly on 5 of 15 tests and performed no worse on any test than the control group. Consequently, they, too, had post operatively no or only slight neuropsychological impairment.