Surgical correction of subclavian steal syndrome

Eleven patients with subclavian steal syndrome underwent surgical correction without mortality. Ten patients were relieved from their symptoms. Two vessels reoccluded, two months and three years postoperatively, with reappearance of symptoms. One patient was hemiplegic after the operation. Associated lesions of other precerebral vessels were found in 7 patients, and surgical correction of two or three stenosed or occluded arteries was performed in 5 of them. Satisfactory and complete preoperative angiographic study of all precerebral vessels is therefore important. In 4 patients studied, the vertebral artery flow changed from a mean retrograde flow of 91 ml/min to a mean forward flow of 64 ml/min.