ACUTE HEMISPHERIC STROKE - CORRELATION BETWEEN 3-DIMENSIONAL TRANSCRANIAL DOPPLER, MR-ANGIOGRAPHY, CT AND CLINICAL FINDINGS

We examined 50 ischemic stroke patients and 67 controls free of vascul ar disease, intra- or extracranial. We assessed all subjects clinicall y by neurological examination (quantified on the Canadian Neurological Scale or CNS), by three-dimensional transcranial Doppler sonography ( TCD-3D) and by computed tomography (CT) within 24 h of the acute event , repeating CT 15 days later. 15 patients also underwent magnetic reso nance angiography (MRA) and digital subtraction angiography (DSA). We used the following Doppler parameters: interhemispheric asymmetry inde x (AI), mean flow velocity (mV) and pulsatility index (PI)for the midd le cerebral artery (MCA). The difference between patients and controls on analysis of the variance (ANOVA) in respect of AI was significant: F = 50.8, p < 0.0001. The CNS-AI correlation was equally valid: r = - 0.56, p < 0.001. The CNS-CT correlation proved to be highly significa nt: r = -0.72, p < 0.0001. TCD-3D allowed quantitative evaluation of t he hemodynamic changes and of the collateral blood supply and proved t o be a sound method for the investigation of ischemic stroke, correlat ing well with the clinical findings, MRA and lesion size on CT.