Clinical manifestations of atherosclerosis are among the most common serious maladies suffered by man. One theory of the etiology of atherosclerosis is that it is a disorder of lipid metabolism. When this process involves the cerebral arteries, patches of material containing lipid are irregularly deposited beneath the intimal surfaces of the carotid, vertebral, and basilar arteries, the circle of Willis, and its larger branches. Age, sex, diet, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, and local intimal injury are among the factors that are known to influence the development and progression of this disease process.
There have been limited data on the nature