[State of cerebral circulation in patients with essential arterial hypertension].

In order to evaluate the volumetric flow rate of the blood in the major extracranial arteries, as well as to assess intracranial haemodynamics in patients presenting with isolated arterial hypertension and those with haemodynamically insignificant pathologies of the "CA" the authors analysed the findings obtained in a total of 159 patients (71 males and 88 females) who were diagnosed with mild, moderate and severe arterial hypertension. The average age of the patients amounted to 59 +/- 12 years. Studying the thickness of the intima-medial complex of the common carotid artery in both isolated arterial hypertension (AH) andAH combined with atherosclerotic alterations in the CA demonstrated its thickening, which was more evident in a combination of atherosclerosis with AH. The study revealed a decrease in the volumetric flow rate ofthe blood in all extracranial vessels, as well as that of the total volumetric flow rate in the group ofpatients with isolated AH and especially those with a combination of AH and atherosclerosis. The patients sufferingfrom both isolated AH and a combination of AH with pathological alterations of/in the carotid arteries demonstrated alterations in the flow-rate indices and an increase in the indices of the peripheral resistance in the arteries of the circle of Willis, which were mostly pronounced in those with a prolonged history of AH. A trend towards a decrease in the indices of the flow-rate of the bloodstream and an increase in the indices of the peripheral vascular resistance in hypertensive patients is determined by structural alterations in the vascular wall of the extracranial arteries on the one hand, and by the development of hypertensive microangiopathy, on the other.