Transcranial Doppler sonography evaluation in patients with vasospasm following subarachnoid haemorrhage.

ABSTRACT

Transcranial Doppler (TCD) sonography is emerging as a new ultrasonography technology to look at the interaction between the brain parenchyma and perfusion during cerebrovascular accident. Before TCD sonography the vasospasm following subarachnoid haemorrhage could only be diagnosed either clinically or by invasive method ie, angiography. TCD has been proved as a wonderful non-invasive, repeatable, beat-by-beat, non-expensive technique for detection and follow-up of vasospasm after subarachnoid haemorrhage. In the present series 12 patients suspected to have vasospasm after subarachnoid haemorrhage were confirmed and monitored with the help of TCD. Most of the patients were clinically presented with increasing headache and altered sensorium. It is noticed that vasospasm following subarachnoid haemorrhage has a typical course, which has increasing trend after 4th day of subarachnoid haemorrhage and declining trend after 14th day onwards. Six out of 12 patients were in moderate grade of vasospasm, 2 out of 12 were in severe grade and 4 out of 12 were mild grade of severity.