A 75 year-old female is admitted to the hospital for workup of a syncope episode. During the hospitalization, she suffers a sudden cardiac arrest but undergoes successful resuscitation with return of vital signs. She is placed on the institutional post-arrest protocol and cooled for several days. After re-warming, she continues to be unresponsive and does not move any of her extremities. A duplex which had been ordered for her syncope workup pre-arrest is completed at this time. The left common and internal carotid arteries are shown below; imaging of the right side showed the same findings.
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