Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attacks With Basilar Artery Stenosis or Occlusion

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Abstract
BASILAR ARTERY occlusion (BAO) is an uncommon cause of stroke generally associated with a high mortality rate and a poor functional outcome in survivors.1-7 Labauge et al8 reported only 31 survivors of BAO. Even with thrombolytic therapy, the survival rate in BAO is only approximately 50%.9-16 However, in the past, most studies of BAO were based on autopsy material and thus were naturally biased toward fatal outcome.1,4-6 More recently, cases of survival with more benign outcomes were reported in patients with BAO,17-21 suggesting that the prognosis of BAO is more diverse than generally admitted. Moreover, only limited data relating to basilar artery stenosis (BAS) have been published.22,23 However, the development of new, safe, noninvasive diagnostic tools, such as magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), as well as the advent of new treatments, such as thrombolysis and angioplasty, have facilitated diagnosis and treatment of BAO and BAS. We present a retrospective study to provide information about spontaneous outcome and clinical predictive factors in symptomatic patients with BAS greater than 50% or BAO not treated by thrombolysis.