What is vertebral steal?

Subclavian steal syndrome is the medical term for a group of signs and symptoms that indicate retrograde blood flow in an artery. Some cases of subclavian steal syndrome involve retrograde blood flow in the vertebral artery. This artery runs along a person’s neck, supplying blood to the neck and head.

What are the signs of steal syndrome?

Hemodialysis access-related hand ischemia or ‘steal syndrome’ causes problems such as hand numbness, pain, coldness and weakness, as well as significantly reduced blood flow/pressure to affected tissues. In extreme cases, it can cause tissue death (gangrene), which may lead to the loss of fingers.

Why is subclavian steal syndrome more common on the left?

Subclavian steal syndrome is more commonly seen on the left side, possibly due to the more acute origin of the left subclavian artery, leading to increased turbulence, causing accelerated atherosclerosis [2].

Can steal syndrome be cured?

Steal was cured in 90 to 100% of patients, but only 10 to 40% of the banded accesses remained patent (Table 2, [5,6,20]).

What is the treatment for steal syndrome?

There are minimally invasive procedures that can be used to treat steal syndrome. Minimally Invasive Limited Ligation Endoluminal-assisted Revision, known as The MILLER procedure, is a technique used to balance blood flow through a dialysis access so that there is adequate circulation to the hand.

What causes subclavian steal syndrome?

Causes. Subclavian steal syndrome occurs when there is the presence of an occlusion or narrowing in the subclavian artery. The redundancy in the circulation in the brain and the retrograde flow of the blood as a consequence of the occlusion and narrowing in the subclavian artery resulted to the syndrome.

What are the treatment options for subclavian steal syndrome?

However, if the cause of subclavian steal syndrome is determined to be atherosclerotic stenosis or occlusion of the proximal subclavian artery, patients should be treated with lifelong antiplatelet therapy to reduce the risk of associated myocardial infarction, stroke, and other vascular causes of death.

What is the prevalence of subclavian steal syndrome?

Coronary-subclavian steal – A coronary-subclavian steal phenomenon has been described in patients who have undergone prior coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) using the internal mammary artery (IMA) [ 8-10 ]. The prevalence of subclavian artery stenosis is 2.5 to 4.5 percent in patients referred for coronary artery bypass grafting [ 11 ].