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Functional transcranial Doppler assessment of cerebral blood flow velocities changes during attention tasks
Author(s) -
Matteis M.,
Bivona U.,
Catani S.,
Pasqualetti P.,
Formisano R.,
Vernieri F.,
Troisi E.,
Caltagirone C.,
Silvestrini M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
european journal of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.881
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1468-1331
pISSN - 1351-5101
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-1331.2008.02351.x
Subject(s) - alertness , transcranial doppler , medicine , vigilance (psychology) , cerebral blood flow , hemodynamics , tonic (physiology) , audiology , anesthesia , cardiology , psychology , neuroscience , psychiatry
Background and Purpose: Aim of our study was to evaluate cerebral hemodynamic changes during performance of attention tasks and to correlate them with reaction time (RT) and percentage of right answers. Methods: Mean flow velocity (MFV) in middle cerebral arteries was monitored in 30 subjects by transcranial Doppler during tonic alertness, phasic alertness, focused and divided attention tasks. Results: Mean flow velocity increase was significantly higher during divided attention with respect to other tasks ( P < .001). MFV increase was higher in the right than in the left side ( P < .001). Asymmetry during attention tasks resulted significantly higher than that observed in tonic alertness condition. RT was increased during focused attention tasks ( P < .001 vs. both alert tasks), with further increase during divided attention tasks ( P < .001 vs. focused attention task). RT was inversely related to MFV increase only during tonic alertness ( P = 0.012 for left side; P = 0.008 for right side). During the divided attention tasks, an association was found between MFV increase and correct answers ( r = 0.39, P = 0.033). Conclusions: These data show a relationship between RT, correct answers and changes in blood flow velocity and suggest that this method of cerebral blood flow investigation could be a useful approach during assessment of patients with attention deficit.