Arteries carry blood, rich in oxygen, throughout the body. On each side of the neck, all people have carotid arteries. They deliver blood to the brain. Sometimes there is a narrowing, which calls stenosis. This phenomenon significantly increases the risk of stroke.
Symptoms of stenosis of the carotid artery
Stenosis of the carotid artery is not a disease, but a condition caused by the formation of atherosclerotic plaques. As such, there is no such pathology, but there are signs of a stroke. One of them is transient ischemic attacks. They arise when even a small clot of blood for a short time overlaps the artery that supplies blood to our brain. Therefore, symptoms of stenosis of carotid arteries are considered to be signs of transient attacks. These include:
- deterioration of vision (dark circles or blurriness) in one or two eyes;
- sudden loss of vision for a few minutes;
- numbness of a part of the face;
- The difficulty of understanding what the interlocutor says;
- slurred speech;
- dizziness;
- numbness in the arm or leg;
- difficulty swallowing;
- impaired coordination .
After the appearance of any symptoms of stenosis of the internal carotid artery, the patient needs urgent professional medical assistance, since it is impossible to predict independently whether this pathological condition will progress.
Treatment of stenosis of carotid arteries
Treatment of stenosis of the carotid artery should be carried out exclusively by a specialist, since only a doctor can determine the severity of the process, as well as the degree of narrowing of the arteries lumen. Most often, therapy includes taking pharmacological drugs and changing lifestyle. The patient needs to eat foods that are low in salt, cholesterol and fat (saturated), stop smoking, monitor blood pressure, do not abuse alcohol, and engage in physical activity.
In some cases, clotting and stenosis of the carotid artery requires surgical intervention, the most effective option of which is endarterectomy. This is a procedure during which all fatty deposits and plaques are removed from the lumen of one or two arteries. It is mandatory for such an operation to be performed by patients who have already suffered an acute circulatory disturbance in the brain. Before treating the stenosis of the carotid artery by the operative method, the doctor can recommend the use of anticoagulant drugs. They lower blood clotting, which significantly reduces the risk of stroke before endarterectomy.