Methods of using a medical device having catheter with one or more expandable constricting/occluding members for preventing distal embolization during extracranial or intracranial carotid procedures or vertebral artery procedures by augmenting collateral cerebral circulation by coarctation of the aorta to enhance reversal of blood flow in an internal carotid artery, an external carotid artery, and/or a common carotid artery toward the subclavian artery are disclosed. An interventional catheter can also be advanced into a left cerebral artery and a procedure performed on a lesion in the left cerebral artery.
