Screening significance of transcranial Doppler for patients with patent foramen ovale induced cerebral embolism / 中国医师进修杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the screening significance of transcranial Doppler (TCD) for patients with patent foramen ovale ( PFO) induced cerebral embolism and to improve the treatment aiming at the causes.Methods Thirty-six patients of less than 60 years old with unknown-cause cerebral embolism and transient ischemic attack were enrolled.Besides conventional examination,the 24 h Holter,transthoracic echocariiography,carotid artery Doppler ultrasonography (CAU),routine TCD,TCD foaming test,transesophageal echocardiography (TEE),CT angiography (CTA) of head and neck,ultrasonography of vein in bilateral lower limbs were examined in all patients.Results All the patients showed no atrial fibrillation.No structural heart disease and intracardiac occupying lesion were shown in transthoracic echocardiography.No carotid stenosis was shown in carotid artery Doppler ultrasonography.Routine TCD showed no intracranial artery stenosis.No thrombus was found in ultrasonography of deep veins in bilateral lower limbs.CTA of head and neck showed everything was normal.Fourteen patients were observed with right-to-left shunt in heart by TCD foaming test,including 10 cases with microbubble signals(MBS) in 10 s,and 4 cases with MBS after Valsalva maneuver.Among 14 patients,12 patients were proved PFO by TEE.Conclusions PFO is one of the causes of cardiogenic cerebral embolism.TCD is accurate and reliable for the screening of PFO.