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Published in: Child's Nervous System 1/2018

01-01-2018 | Review Paper

Congenital absence of the bilateral internal carotid artery: a review of the associated (ab)normalities from a newborn status to the eighth decade of life

Authors: Ljiljana Vasović, Milena Trandafilović, Slobodan Vlajković, Goran Radenković

Published in: Child's Nervous System | Issue 1/2018

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Abstract

Purpose

Due to the fact that the internal carotid artery (ICA) is responsible for nourishing two thirds of the brain volume, our aim was to inspect the morphofunctional consequences of the bilateral lack of this artery.

Methods

In order to examine this condition, we referred to both the library archive of our Faculty of Medicine and electronic databases of anatomical and clinical reports that included the following keywords: “absence,” “aplasia,” or “agenesis” in combination with “internal carotid artery,” “common carotid artery,” or only “carotid artery.”

Result

We found 60 recorded cases of the bilateral ICA absence in the subjects of newborn status to the eighth decade of life, which had been discovered in 20 countries. The following ten parameters were described: the embryological base, terminology, history, incidence, general data, differential diagnosis, collateral circulation, the associated vascular aplasia and/or other variants, pathophysiology, and the importance in praxis.

Conclusion

This review noted all the cases of the bilateral ICA aplasia published for the past 104 years. Although there were 11.6% of cases of the associated cerebral aneurysms and 1–4 cases of 16 other diseases, approximately one quarter of the cases was without any pathology.
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Metadata
Title
Congenital absence of the bilateral internal carotid artery: a review of the associated (ab)normalities from a newborn status to the eighth decade of life
Authors
Ljiljana Vasović
Milena Trandafilović
Slobodan Vlajković
Goran Radenković
Publication date
01-01-2018
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Child's Nervous System / Issue 1/2018
Print ISSN: 0256-7040
Electronic ISSN: 1433-0350
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-017-3629-1

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