title: Color-coded duplex sonography in the evaluation of vertebral arteries.
abstract: The vertebral arteries of 100 healthy subjects were studied with color-coded duplex sonography. All subjects experienced no clinical symptoms attributable to the vertebrobasilar system. Diastolic and systolic flow velocities could be measured in color-coded duplex sonography in 94% of the right and 92% of the left vertebral arteries. The anechogenic band between the transverse processes of the cervical spine which helps to identify the vertebral artery could not be discerned reliably in 18% of the subjects. In these cases the colored blood flow signals were used as a guide line to place the doppler sample volume exactly within the arterial lumen. Thus color coded duplex sonography is a useful tool for a rapid and definitely identification of vertebral artery and for pulsed Doppler flow measurements with velocity spectrum. For measurements in diameter of hypoplastic and normal vertebral arteries gray scale methodic is a more accurate assessment, as some artifacts of color-coded duplex sonography exist.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Essen.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delcker
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Diener
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D004453:Echoencephalography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D014715:Vertebrobasilar Insufficiency / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*