Clinical diagnosis of cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage by using transcranial Doppler sonography

D.-D. Li, J.-Y. Chang, C.-X. Zhou, J.-B. Cui

Department of Ultrasound, Weifang People’s Hospital, Weifang, P.R. China. cuijinbeibei@163.com

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• Neurology

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the diagnosis of cerebral vasospasm (CVS) after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) by transcranial Doppler (TCD) sonography.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: 90 patients with SAH admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery of Weifang People’s Hospital from January 2016 to December 2016 were selected. TCD and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) were used to diagnose the prevalence of CVS in patients. The severity of disease was evaluated (improved-Fisher grading). Correlations between neurological status (Hunt-Hess grading) and the prevalence of CVS were analyzed. It turned out that the prevalence of CVS was 87.78% detected by DSA and was 83.33% detected by TCD, no significant difference was found between them (p > 0.05).

RESULTS: The results of TCD showed that the gender, age, smoking, alcoholism, and history of hypertension had no significant correlations with the prevalence of CVS (p > 0.05). Blood flow velocity of patients was significantly higher at 4-6 days after the occurrence of SAH compared with the level at 1-3 days, reached the peak at 7-9 days, and decreased at 10-12 days after occurrence. Significant differences in the severity of the disease were found between patients with different improved-Fisher grades and different Hunt-Hess grades (p < 0.05). The prevalence of CVS was significantly increased after SAH (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: TCD can dynamically detect the blood flow velocity of SAH patients, and can be used for the prediction and diagnosis of CVS after SAH.

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