Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Apr 29:16:841809.
doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.841809. eCollection 2022.

Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography as a Diagnostic Tool for Cerebrovascular Disorders

Yuanmei Pan  1 , Wenbin Wan  1 , Minjie Xiang  1 , Yangtai Guan  1
Affiliations
Review

Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography as a Diagnostic Tool for Cerebrovascular Disorders

Yuanmei Pan et al. Front Hum Neurosci. .

Abstract

Imaging techniques including transcranial Doppler (TCD), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and cerebral angiography are available for cerebrovascular disease diagnosis. TCD is a less expensive, non-invasive, and practically simpler approach to diagnosing cerebrovascular disorders than the others. TCD is a commonly available and inexpensive diagnostic tool. However, owing to its large operator dependency, it has a narrow application area. Cerebrovascular disease indicates a group of disorders that alter the flow of blood in the brain. The brain's functions can be temporarily or permanently impaired as a result of this change in blood flow. Timely diagnosis and treatment can restore the brain-impaired functions, resulting in a much-improved prognosis for the patients. This review summarizes the basic principles underlying the TCD imaging technique and its utility as a diagnostic tool for cerebrovascular disease.

Keywords: TCD; blood flow; cerebrovascular disease; neurological condition; non-invasive.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Panel (A) indicates ultrasonic probes, with blue arrows indicating TCD and yellow arrows indicating Transcranial color-coded sonography (TCCS). Panels (B–D) show transcranial acoustic windows used in TCD evaluation, including transorbital, suboccipital, and transtemporal windows, accordingly (Bathala et al., 2013).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Measurement of the cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) in the MCA by TCD. The Circle of Willis and the MCA can be seen when the 2 MHz probe is positioned transtemporally. The ACA and PCA can be insonated by TCD as well (D’Andrea et al., 2016a).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Typical transtemporal window parameters used in TCD imaging (Naqvi et al., 2013).
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
In clinical practice, simplified algorithms for evaluating brain death, intracranial hypertension, cerebral vasospasm, and autoregulation using TCD. PI indicates pulsatility index while Vd, Vm, and Vs indicate diastolic flow, mean flow, and systolic flow velocity, accordingly (Robba and Taccone, 2019). While LR represent the lindegaard ratio, and CCA represent cerebral circulatory arrest. * The three reported images represent reverberating flow (top), systolic pikes (middle), and no flow (bottom), respectively (Robba and Taccone, 2019).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Akaishi T., Abe M., Miki T., Miki M., Funamizu Y., Ito S., et al. (2020). Ratio of diastolic to systolic blood pressure represents renal resistive index. J. Hum. Hypertens. 34 512–519. 10.1038/s41371-019-0264-1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Akif Topcuoglu M. (2012). Transcranial Doppler ultrasound in neurovascular diseases: diagnostic and therapeutic aspects. J. Neurochem. 123 39–51. 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2012.07942.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alexandrov A. V., Demchuk A. M., Wein T. H., Grotta J. C. (1999). Yield of transcranial Doppler in acute cerebral ischemia. Stroke 30 1604–1609. 10.1161/01.STR.30.8.1604 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alexandrov A. V., Molina C. A., Grotta J. C., Garami Z., Ford S. R., Alvarez-Sabin J., et al. (2004). Ultrasound-enhanced systemic thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke. N. Engl. J. Med. 351 2170–2178. 10.1056/NEJMoa041175 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alexandrov A. V., Rubiera M., Palazzo P., Neumyer M. M. (2011). “Intracranial cerebrovascular ultrasound examination techniques,” in Cerebrovascular Ultrasound in Stroke Prevention and Treatment, 2nd Edn, eds Andrei V., Alexandrov M. D. (Hoboken, NJ: Blackwell Publishing; ), 13–25. 10.1002/9781444327373.ch2 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources