Role of transcranial doppler ultrasonography in cerebrovascular disease

Abstract

Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD) is the only non-invasive diagnostic technique for obtaining reliable information about intracranial blood flow patterns in real-time. The information obtained from TCD often adds physiological component to the anatomical information obtained from other neuroimaging studies. TCD is relatively cheap, can be performed bedside for acute stroke patients as well as for patients with fixed vascular steno-occlusive disease. Some of the advanced applications of TCD include sonothrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke, monitoring for spontaneous emboli, right-to-left shunt detection and vasomotor reactivity, evaluation of vasospasm in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage etc. These applications help in evaluating various stroke mechanisms, management plan as well as for prognostication purposes. TCD has been suggested as an essential ingredient of a comprehensive stroke center. © 2013 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.