Stroke question: How can a person have a clogged basilar artery when his carotid!
Question: My husband had a stroke in the cerebellum a couple of months ago, and he has mostly recovered. The doc said the problem was his basilar artery was clogged up, but when my husband had an ultrasound of his carotids, they were very clear (the technician was VERY surprised, because my husband is 68 and has diabetes). For some reason, his basilar artery was NOT scanned. My husband has added dipridymole (sp?) to his regimen, and is working harder on his blood pressure (135/80 right now) but I am wondering if the clot came from somewhere else, and just got stuck in the basilar artery. In other words, is the doc oversimplifying things? I thought I read somewhere you can have heart problems and then you get clots elsewhere. (PS, my husband is slim and exercises a lot, and has a very healthy diet, so otherwise, he is doing all he can).
Thanks!
Answers: My husband had a stroke in the cerebellum a couple of months ago, and he has mostly recovered. The doc said the problem was his basilar artery was clogged up, but when my husband had an ultrasound of his carotids, they were very clear (the technician was VERY surprised, because my husband is 68 and has diabetes). For some reason, his basilar artery was NOT scanned. My husband has added dipridymole (sp?) to his regimen, and is working harder on his blood pressure (135/80 right now) but I am wondering if the clot came from somewhere else, and just got stuck in the basilar artery. In other words, is the doc oversimplifying things? I thought I read somewhere you can have heart problems and then you get clots elsewhere. (PS, my husband is slim and exercises a lot, and has a very healthy diet, so otherwise, he is doing all he can).
Thanks!
The basilar arteries are not usually checked during a carotid US. The vertebrals can easily be seen but not the basilars.
It's not uncommon to have isolated atherosclerosis in one vessel in a region. It happens frequently in the carotids.
The RT above was answering out of his field of knowledge.
Close to half of strokes are not from clots, but from bits of plaque that break loose & travel.
Contrary to what many people think, cardiologists are HEART experts. Vascular surgeons and vascular internists are experts in arterial/venous disease.
It is very true that the most common cause for stroke is a piece of plaque breaks off from the carotid and blocks a vessel in the brain. However, that is not what happened to your husband. There are other possibilities. He could have had "vegetations" on his heart valves from an old infection, the clot could have formed inside his heart from an abnormal rhythm, and the clot could have formed in his leg (common) but the only way to get to the brain would be a hole between his atria called a patent foramen ovale. This is what happened to my dad and also to New Englan Patriot linebacker Ted Bruschi (sp?), a day after he won a Super Bowl.
I'm sorry but as a Respiratory/cardiac therapist..this question may be a little much for yahooanswers. There are too many variables to ask this question and any answers you get would be guess work at the best ( and any health care profesionals who advise you are being unethical). I noticed that you said he has diabetes, a more common cause for stroke is deep vein thrombosis...they can throw clots almost anywhere...heart lungs brain....so really you need to talk to a cardiologist or endocrinoligist with this question ( as an example of the many problems that it could be). the more important thing is that he is following his doctors orders and taking care of his condition.