Transcranial Doppler Measurement of Intracraial Arterial Flow Velocity in Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

ABSTRACT

The velocity of blood flow through the middle cerebral arteries was measured by transcranial Doppler sonography in 18 patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. The velocity became greater from 4th day after the hemorrhage, reached a plateau on 6th-11th day and declined thereafter. 2) In the cases of laterally localized aneurysms, the velocity through the arteries ipsilateral to the aneurysm was significantly greater than that through the arteries contralateral to the aneurysm. 3) The velocity through the arteries of the patients who showed thick subarachnoid clots on CT scan within 3 days after the hemorrhage was significantly greater than that of the patients who showed thin subarachnoid clots. 4) The maximum mean velocity in the patients with delayed ischemic deficits(DID) was greater than that in the patients without DID. The results suggest that the transcranial Doppler monitering is helpful to detect early vasospasm.