MORPHOMETRY OF INTRALUMINAL SIDE-TO-SIDE DIFFERENCES IN HUMAN BASAL CEREBRAL-ARTERIES

Intraindividual variability of Doppler frequencies in the basal cerebr al arteries is higher than the variability in perfusion measurements. Since Doppler frequency is dependent on vessel diameter, we measured i ntraluminal vessel diameters post mortem. In 73 human cadavers, we mea sured fresh pairs of rings of the terminal internal carotid artery, th e anterior and the middle cerebral artery. Mean intraluminal diameters (+/- standard deviation) for the respective vessel segments were 2.8 +/- 0.49 mm (2.72 +/- 0.49 mm), 1.61 +/- 0.37 mm (1.63 +/- 0.39 mm) an d 2.10 +/- 0.38 mm (2.10 +/- 0.41 mm). The left/right ratio was 1.04 /- 0.13, 1.05 +/- 0.35 and 1.02 +/- 0.17. Intraindividual asymmetries in intraluminal vessel diameters might be an additional factor in the interpretation of intracranial Doppler frequency measurements.