Psychological Study of Carotid Occlusion and Endarterectomy

Changes in personality and mental functioning related to carotid artery occlusive disease have been increasingly commented upon in the last two decades. In 1941, Fisher1pointed out a relationship between carotid occlusion and senile dementia. Since then McGuire and Jaeger2have described changes in memory, personality, and emotional control attributable to carotid occlusion. Emphasis on mental deterioration and mental aberrations associated with carotid occlusion also are to be found in the more recent reports of Eisenbrey, Urrutia, and Karnosh,3Clarke and Harrison,4Williams and Bruetsch,5Shapiro,6and Hurwitz et al.7However, with the exception of a few isolated psychometric examinations of intellectual functioning reported recently by Sours,8and by Groch9and his associates, comprehensive psychological study by standardized psychometric and projective techniques is lacking. Objective evaluation of psychological changes occurring as a function of surgical intervention in carotid artery occlusion is