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Imaging in the diagnosis and follow‐up evaluation of vertebral artery dissection.
Author(s) -
Lu C J,
Sun Y,
Jeng J S,
Huang K M,
Hwang B S,
Lin W H,
Chen R C,
Yip P K
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of ultrasound in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1550-9613
pISSN - 0278-4297
DOI - 10.7863/jum.2000.19.4.263
Subject(s) - medicine , radiology , vertebral artery dissection , vertebral artery , dissection (medical) , artery , duplex (building) , surgery , dna , genetics , biology
The purpose of this report is to discuss the value of ultrasonographic examination in the diagnosis and follow‐up evaluation of vertebral artery dissection. We collected data on 8 patients with 11 pathologic vessels: 9 were affected intracranially and 6 were affected extracranially. Four vessels were affected in both intracranial and extracranial segments. Extracranial color‐flow duplex sonography could detect abnormalities in every extracranial vertebral artery dissection. Most abnormal findings were non‐specific, including severely reduced flow, absence of flow, and absence of diastolic flow. A specific finding (intramural hematoma) was noted in one artery. Abnormal transcranial color‐coded sonographic findings included absence of flow, reduced velocity and reversed flow direction. Three intracranial dissecting arteries showed normal findings on transcranial color‐coded sonography. Ultrasonographic follow‐up study revealed evidence of improvement; this was noted almost exclusively in the extracranial segments of the vertebral artery but infrequently in the intracranial segment. Extracranial color‐flow duplex sonography is sensitive in the detection of extracranial vertebral artery dissection, both in initial diagnosis and in follow‐up evaluation.