Outcome at 30 Days in the New England Medical Center Posterior Circulation Registry

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Abstract
POSTERIOR CIRCULATION disease has traditionally been considered an illness with high mortality and morbidity since the publication of Kubik and Adams' original article in Brain in 19461 concerning the clinical and pathologic findings in fatal cases of basilar artery (BA) occlusions.2 Most subsequent outcome studies in patients with vertebrobasilar disease have considered selected groups with specific vascular lesions or clinical states.2-9 The reported mortality in these studies has been high. In contrast, Bogousslavsky et al10 studied an unselected, relatively small group of patients with vertebrobasilar disease and found a low mortality rate. We analyzed and report outcomes from the New England Medical Center Posterior Circulation Registry (NEMC-PCR), a prospective collection of patients with posterior circulation disease. The NEMC-PCR included 407 patients who had had vertebrobasilar territory strokes and transient ischemic attacks and who were admitted or referred to the NEMC between January 1, 1988, and December 31, 1996.