Extracranial-Intracranial Bypass Surgery Using a Radial Artery Interposition Graft for Cerebrovascular Diseases

Abstract

To investigate the efficacy of extracranial-intracranial (EC-IC) bypass surgery using a radial artery interposition graft (RAIG) for surgical management of cerebrovascular diseases. The study involved a retrospective analysis of 13 patients who underwent EC-IC bypass surgery using RAIG at a single neurosurgical institute between 2003 and 2009. The diseases comprised intracranial aneurysm (n=10), carotid artery occlusive disease (n=2), and delayed stenosis in the donor superficial temporal artery (STA) following previous STA-middle cerebral artery bypass surgery (n=1). Patients were followed clinically and radiographically. Bypass surgery was successful in all patients. At a mean follow-up of 53.4 months, the short-term patency rate was 100%, and the long-term rate was 92.3%. Twelve patients had an excellent clinical outcome of Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) 5, and one case had GOS 3. Procedure-related complications were a temporary dysthesia on the graft harvest hand (n=1) and a hematoma at the graft harvest site (n=1), and these were treated successfully with no permanent sequelae. In one case, spasm occurred which was relieved with the introduction of mechanical dilators. EC-IC bypass using a RAIG appears to be an effective treatment for a variety of cerebrovascular diseases requiring proximal occlusion or trapping of the parent artery.