title: Spontaneous oscillations in cerebral blood flow velocity in normal humans and in patients with carotid artery disease.
abstract: Spontaneous oscillations in cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) in normals and in patients with stenoses or occlusions of the internal cerebral artery were measured using transcranial Doppler sonography. In normal subjects, large oscillations of up to +/- 30% from the mean CBFV were found with low frequencies between 0.4 and 9 cycles/min. No correlations between CBFV oscillations and systemic circulatory parameters were detected. In patients with carotid artery obstructions the CBFV oscillations were significantly reduced in the middle cerebral artery ipsilaterally to a hemodynamically significant lesion, but not contralaterally. Our results support the hypothesis that spontaneous oscillations (B-waves) of small pial vessels are responsible for the CBFV fluctuations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Heidelberg, F.R.G.
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Diehl
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Diehl
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sitzer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hennerici
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011673:Pulsatile Flow; D012016:Reference Values; D014463:Ultrasonography