Effect of Carotid Stenosis on the Development of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: An Experimental Study

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) may be seen after the invasive procedures of occlusive carotid artery disease. The objective of this experimental study is to investigate the effect of bilateral common carotid artery ligation (BCCAL) on the development of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).Twenty Wistar adult rats (150-200g) were randomly divided into two groups, as follows: (Ý) Control group (without BCCAL, n = 5), (II) BCCAL group (n = 15). All rats were sacrificed three months later. The basilar artery with surrounding tissue was removed from the cranium and processed for paraffin embedding. Histopathological and Stereological examinations of the basilar artery were made. During the experimental period, six rats died within twenty days after BCCAL, and SAH was detected in four of them. The mean cross sectional area of basilar arteries was 0.28 mm2 in the control, whereas in the rats that did not develop SAH and These that developed SAH were 0.33 mm2 and 0.23 mm2 (P 0.01), respectively. Luminal enlargement, vascular wall thinning, endothelial injury and flattening of inner elastic lamina were examined histopathologically. There were red blood cells in the cisterna magna of animals that developed SAH. Carotid stenosis or invasive applications such as carotid angioplasty and carotid stenting may cause fatal SAH.