Direct transposition of the distal cervical vertebral artery into the internal carotid artery

From January 1979 to December 1991, 92 revascularizations of the V3 segment of the vertebral artery were performed in 91 patients through a direct transposition of this artery into the internal carotid artery (ICA). These cases represented 15.1% of 610 vertebral revascularizations and 38.8% of 280 distal vertebral revascularizations performed during this period at our institution. The sex ratio of this population was 0.59, and the mean age was 59.4 +/- 13.2 years (range 14 to 82 years). Preoperative ischemic symptoms were vertebrobasilar in 87 (94.6%) cases, exclusively hemispheric in one (1.1%), and absent in the remaining four (4.3%). One of these four patients had asymptomatic severe multivessel occlusive disease and three others underwent resection of a spinal tumor involving the vertebral foraminal canal. In 31 (33.7%) cases significant carotid occlusive disease was also present. The distal V3 segment of the artery was directly transposed into the ICA in all cases in this series. In 24 (26.1%) cases the ICA was endarterectomized during the same operation. There were no deaths or strokes in this series but there were two (2.2%) transient ischemic attacks-one vertebrobasilar and the other hemispheric. However, eight (8.7%) transposed vertebral arteries were totally occluded at early follow-up. At 1 month, among the 87 patients with vertebrobasilar insufficiency, 44 (50.6%) were cured, 31 (35.6%) were improved, and 12 (13.8%) remained unchanged. Among the 12 who were unchanged, eight (66.7%) had occlusion or stenosis of the distal transposition at the time of discharge. At 5 years, the primary patency rate in the series was 89.1% +/- 7.2%. At the time of the last follow-up, among the 87 patients with vertebrobasilar insufficiency, 50 (57.5%) were cured, 25 (28.7%) were improved, two (2.3%) had remained unchanged since the operation, two (2.3%) suffered a relapse, and eight (9.2%) exhibited vertebrobasilar symptoms of varying severity and therefore could not be considered improved. Direct transposition of the V3 segment of the vertebral artery into the ICA is a simple, safe, and reliable technique for revascularization of the distal cervical vertebral artery.