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Transcranial Doppler Identifies a Malfunctioning Extraventricular Drain
Author(s) -
Mayans David R.,
Meads Dana B.,
Reynolds Patrick S.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of neuroimaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1552-6569
pISSN - 1051-2284
DOI - 10.1111/jon.12016
Subject(s) - medicine , transcranial doppler , intracranial pressure , subarachnoid hemorrhage , vasospasm , shunt (medical) , anesthesia , blood flow , blood pressure , cerebral blood flow , cardiology
Transcranial Doppler (TCD) is an invaluable tool allowing real‐time monitoring of physiologic blood flow velocity changes. We present a case where TCD monitoring for vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage identified blood flow velocity changes consistent with sudden increased intracranial pressure (ICP) due to a malfunctioning extraventricular drain. The primary team was alerted to these findings, and immediately revised her shunt with normalization of ICP and TCD. Serial TCD monitoring allowed identification of an imminently fatal complication in time to allow a life saving intervention. TCD is a portable, inexpensive, real‐time tool providing important physiologic data regarding blood flow velocities and intracranial pressure that is crucial to the care of critically ill patients.