Cerebrovascular Anatomy with Clinical Correlation

Abstract

Cerebrovascular disease ordinarily comprises about 5–15% of the outpatient practice of a general neurologist, but it is the predominant disorder in the hospital. Thus, the medical student experience is skewed toward evaluation and treatment of stroke, a critically important field, but not necessarily representative of the spectrum of neurology. Adequate preparation to make the most of this experience requires a familiarity with vascular anatomy prior to beginning the mandatory rotation, presumably a minimum of 1 month. This will be summarized to emphasize salient features. Discussion of pathology is essential since ischemic strokes (85%) and hemorrhagic strokes (15%) have distinctive clinical and anatomic patterns. Treatment implications will be briefly reviewed. Case reports will be added to illustrate the importance of the history and neurologic examination to determine both the anatomic and pathologic diagnosis, the evaluation indicated, and some current treatment approaches.