What are the symptoms of carotid insufficiency

Insufficient blood supply to the carotid artery can cause various discomfort symptoms and diseases. When blood cannot smoothly ascend through the neck to reach the brain, the brain will definitely suffer from insufficient blood supply and oxygen loss, causing dizziness and vertigo. Some patients may experience blurred vision or sudden blindness, or temporary hearing loss, etc. What are the symptoms of carotid insufficiency?

Carotid artery stenosis can cause many symptoms, including loss of sensation or movement on one side of the body and temporary loss of vision (aphasia) or speech (aphasia) in one eye. If the above symptoms last for a very short time and are completely recovered within 24 hours after onset (currently it is believed that the symptoms last no more than 1 hour), and there is no acute infarction in imaging examinations such as brain MRI, it is clinically called "transient ischemic attack" (TIA); traditionally, it is believed that the above symptoms last for more than 24 hours (the latest view is that the symptoms last for more than 1 hour), which is called "ischemic stroke." If carotid artery stenosis leads to large-area cerebral infarction, it will cause complete or permanent loss of brain function, manifested as transient loss of consciousness, hemiplegia and sensory impairment, or inability to speak. The symptoms will last for a long time, the mortality rate is high, and even if the patient survives, there will be sequelae.

Other symptoms of carotid insufficiency

Some people also asked: Will carotid artery stenosis definitely cause symptoms? To understand this issue, we should first understand the blood supply to the brain. The blood supply to the brain is mainly provided by four arteries: two internal carotid arteries and two vertebral arteries. These four arteries reach the brain and anastomose with each other at the base of the skull, forming a network to supply blood to the brain. This network is called the basilar artery circle (circle of Willis). If the circle of Willis is congenitally incomplete or severely narrowed or occluded somewhere, then if any of the four blood supply arteries is insufficient due to stenosis and exceeds a certain degree, there will be ischemia in the corresponding part of the brain, resulting in some symptoms. If the circle of Willis is intact, even if one artery is blocked, the other three blood vessels can still compensate through the circle of Willis to meet the brain's blood supply needs, and symptoms of cerebral ischemia will not appear temporarily.

Patients with cerebral artery stenosis do not have any neurological symptoms and signs clinically. The only difference is that vascular bruits are detected by auscultation of the neck during physical examination, or carotid artery stenosis is discovered by ultrasound examination of the neck vessels. Some patients may experience mild discomfort symptoms such as dizziness, heaviness of the head, headache, memory loss, slow reaction, etc. (Because there are no localizing signs, they are clinically called "non-specific symptoms").

How to detect carotid artery insufficiency in time

It is undeniable that asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis is a time bomb hidden in the patient's body, especially severe stenosis or plaque ulcers are recognized as "high-risk lesions" that can cause stroke at any time. Therefore, even if there are no symptoms, treatment cannot be relaxed. People over 50 should have a carotid artery ultrasound during their annual physical examination to see if there are atherosclerotic plaques and stenosis in the arteries. For carotid artery stenosis detected early, active prevention should be carried out early and appropriate intervention plans should be selected according to the specific circumstances to prevent the occurrence of cerebral "stroke".