Revista de prevención y atención de la salud

Abstracto

Rehabilitation of patients with anatomical variants of the circle of Willis and ischemic stroke in a multidisciplinary context

Ana-Maria Dumitrescu, Claudia Florida Costea, Andrei Cucu, Laura Mihaela Trandafir, Cristina Maria Gavrilescu, Carmen Valerica Ripa, Roxana-Gabriela Cobzaru, Ingrith Miron, Iuliana Magdalena Starcea, Otilia-Elena Frasinariu, Violeta Cazacu-Davidescu, Irena Grierosu, Anca sáva

Introduction: Any change in the morphology of the constituent arteries of the circle of Willis (PoW) could lead to the appearance of different vascular insufficiency syndromes, depending on the blood distribution capacity in the arterial circle and the state of its component vessels.

Material and Method: A scientific search of medical data from articles written in the last 16 years was performed in several international medical libraries and databases such as Google Scholar and PubMed. The following combinations of keywords were used: “circle of Willis, variants, ischemic stroke”, “ischemic stroke, neurological, circle of Willis” and “rehabilitation, stroke, circle of Willis”.

Results: The study shows that the anatomical changes that lead to the inability of this anastomotic structure to maintain adequate blood flow to the brain could be classified into four main types of categories. CoW variants could be associated with the risk of ischemic stroke. In addition to pharmacological treatment, patients who have suffered an ischemic stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA) episode require special care within a complex interdisciplinary team of professionals (physicians, nurses, psychologists, speech therapists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists) working together for their greatest benefit.

Conclusion: Early rehabilitation of these patients should be considered a priority within the group of health professionals and should include therapy in a multidisciplinary context.