Cerebrovascular refers to the blood vessels of the brain and the blood supply to brain tissue. The term appears in several important medical conditions, including cerebrovascular accident (CVA, the clinical term for stroke), cerebrovascular disease (disease affecting the arteries supplying the brain), and cerebrovascular autoregulation (the brain’s ability to maintain a constant blood supply despite changes in systemic blood pressure).
The brain receives its blood supply from four main arteries: the two internal carotid arteries and the two vertebral arteries (which join to form the basilar artery). These form the Circle of Willis at the base of the brain, a network of connecting vessels that provides some redundancy of blood supply. When one of these vessels or their branches becomes blocked or ruptures, the area of brain it supplies is deprived of oxygen, causing a stroke.
Cerebrovascular complications are relevant in the context of cardiac arrest in several ways. Cardioembolic stroke (where a clot forms in the heart, breaks off, and lodges in a cerebral artery) can be a cause of cardiac arrest or can occur as a complication after resuscitation. Hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury following cardiac arrest affects the brain diffusely rather than in the focal distribution of stroke, but the underlying mechanism (oxygen deprivation to cerebral tissue) is the same. Cerebrovascular autoregulation may be impaired after cardiac arrest, meaning the brain loses its ability to maintain constant blood flow as systemic blood pressure fluctuates.
In the intensive care unit after cardiac arrest, maintaining adequate cerebral perfusion pressure is a key goal of management alongside targeted temperature management and seizure prevention. Brain imaging (CT or MRI) is performed as part of neurological prognostication and may identify complicating cerebrovascular events.
« Back to Glossary Index