Carotid Disease
CLINICAL SYMPTOMS
Stenosis of the carotid artery can be asymptomatic and discovered during a routine examination.
It can also be symptomatic with several signs all classified under the term Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA). This accident can be transitory and leave no symptom after 24h. However a CVA can also be a lot more dangerous and cause more damages. The clinical symptoms depends on the location and the relevance of the damaged brain area:
Symptoms are :
-Amaurosis : Sudden and painless one-eyed blindness.
It can be total or partial (the patient sees black dots or stains, as opposed to the shiny dots described by patient suffering from hypertension).
It is usually a sign that the homolateral carotid artery is involved.
-Motor disorders (hemiplegia or hemiparesis), and sensory disorders are usually the result of the paralysis of one half of the body, either complete or limited to the upper limbs and/or the face.
These are usually a sign that the controlateral carotid is involved
-Aphasia: loss of speech associated (or not) to a paralysis.
The medical exam also looks for other areas where atherosclerosis might occur:
- Especially the coronary arteries: these lesions are associated with 65% of patients.
- Arteritis of lower limbs.
Marc FITOUSSI M.D.
18-22 Queen Anne Street
W1G 8HU London
+44 20 7034 3326
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