E. Bartels et al., COLOR DOPPLER IMAGING OF BASAL CEREBRAL-ARTERIES - NORMAL REFERENCE VALUES AND CLINICAL-APPLICATIONS, Angiology, 46(10), 1995, pp. 877-884
Transcranial color-coded duplex ultrasonography is a new diagnostic pr
ocedure allowing the visualization of major intracranial vessels. The
purpose of this report is to describe this method and to evaluate its
practical potential in the routine examination of basal cerebral arter
ies. The results from the examination of 96 patients are presented. By
means of color coding of Doppler frequencies, the major intracranial
vessels were identified by nature of their anatomic location with resp
ect to the echogenic brainstem structures in all subjects. The average
maximal systolic velocity was, in the middle cerebral artery, 108 +/-
15 cm/s; in the anterior cerebral artery, 96 +/- 15; in the posterior
cerebral artery, 76 +/- 16; and in the basilar artery, 59 +/- 17 cm/s
. The determination of the angle between the ultrasonic beam and the e
xamined vessel improved the accuracy of flow velocity measurements in
comparison with conventional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography. The
exact measurement of blood flow velocity in several segments of the v
isualized vessel proved helpful in the assessment of pathologic findin
gs, especially in differentiation between a stenosis of the intracrani
al vessel and a vasospasm.