COLOR TRANSCRANIAL POWER DOPPLER ULTRASOUND OF INTRACRANIAL ANEURYSMS

''Color Doppler energy'' (or ''power Doppler''), a new color Doppler u ltrasound technique that is independent of flow direction and very sen sitive to movement, was assessed for its use in the identification of intracranial aneurysms in patients with recent subarachnoid hemorrhage immediately prior to using cerebral angiography. Features that identi fied aneurysms using this technique included the appearance of abnorma l color where no normal artery was expected, abnormal bulging of an ar tery, and greater ''expansibility'' of the aneurysm in comparison to a n adjacent normal vessel. in this exploratory study, 30 of 33 aneurysm s were correctly identified in 35 patients with a good bone window. Co lor Doppler energy is considerably more sensitive to intracranial bloo d flow than conventional color Doppler imaging. Color Doppler energy i s a useful research tool; if these preliminary results are verified in larger series, in addition to examination for vasospasm, the techniqu e could be used for identification and follow up of aneurysms.