Studies on carotid artery flow.

Abstract

ith the extension of vascular surgery to the treatment of the extracranial portions of the carotid and vertebral arteries there has developed a renewed interest in the cerebral circulation. There is little precise information available about flow through these vessels. Total cerebral circulation has been calculated by various indirect techniques, particularly that of Kety and Schmidt,” and the figure usually given for normal flow with this method is about 7.50 ml. per minute. Flow through individual vessels cannot be measured by this technique and, to our knowIedge, there are no previous reports of direct measurements of blood flow through the carotid arteries in man. The effect of various mechanical factors such as head positioning, occlusion of other vessels supplying the brain, and the direction and volume of flow through the carotid vessels following ipsilateral common carotid occlusion have become matters of clinical importance. The following studies were made with a more accurate and direct method of measurement of carotid artery blood flow than was available in past years.