Stellate ganglion block in the treatment of acute cerebral thrombosis and embolism; report of 44 cases.

Abstract

The treatment of cerebral thrombosis and embolism is usually unsatisfactory and until recently has been confined to the use of general measures. A patient with thrombosis is often given intravenous fluid, whisky or nicotinic acid and symptomatic treatment. However, the benefit to the patient from this type of treatment does not seem great. In regard to embolism the author of one textbook on neurology says, Treatment of embolism is discouraging indeed. There is little that can be done.... 1 Renewed interest in the problem of effective therapy has been stimulated by the publication of a number of reports that cite improvement in the clinical status of patients with cerebral thrombosis or embolism treated with stellate ganglion block. In a paper published in 1946 Risteen and Volpitto 2 claimed favorable results with such treatment. Further attention was drawn to this subject by the publication in 1948 of the study of Gilbert