Visualisation of intracranial space-occupying lesions by means of transcranial duplex sonography: report on two cases.
OBJECTIVE
A new method for the visualisation of intracranial lesions by means of transcranial duplex sonography is illustrated by two cases.


METHODS
The following methods were used to obtain images of a frontal glioblastoma and a meningioma: transcranial duplex sonography (2 MHz transducer), cerebral computed tomography (cCT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).


RESULTS
Comparable to cerebral angiography, transcranial duplex sonography revealed displacement of the cerebral blood vessels and thus the presence of space-occupying lesions.


CONCLUSIONS
Transcranial duplex sonography is a non-invasive method for the visualisation of the circle of Willis and its branches and therefore also an indirect indicator of space-occupying lesions within the cranial cavity. As a bedside investigation, it can be used for emergency or routine diagnostic procedures, and repeated as often as necessary for routine follow-up in everyday neurosurgical practice.
Sanden
Ulrike
U
Department of Neurosurgery, Kantonsspital St. Gallen, Switzerland. ullisanden@yahoo.com
Hildebrandt
Gerhard
G
D000368:Aged; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D004244:Dizziness / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008579:Meningioma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D020768:Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D018616:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex / Q000379:methods*; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial / Q000379:methods*