Noninvasive Assessment of the Circle of Willis in Cerebral Ischemia: The Potential of CT Angiography and Contrast-Enhanced Transcranial Color-Coded Duplexsonography

Publisher: Karger

E-ISSN: 1421-9786|9|5|290-294

ISSN: 1015-9770

Source: Cerebrovascular Diseases, Vol.9, Iss.5, 1999-09, pp. : 290-294

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Abstract

Thirty-four patients with acute hemispheric ischemic strokes underwent both CT angiography and contrast-enhanced transcranial color-coded duplexsonography (TCCD) to study the effectiveness of the combined noninvasive techniques for evaluation of the circle of Willis. In 3/34 patients, CT angiography and contrast-enhanced TCCD demonstrated middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion, in 5 others MCA stenosis. A severe posterior cerebral artery stenosis was missed by CT angiography. In 8 patients, contrast-enhanced TCCD failed because of poor bone windows. In these patients, CT angiography was normal. CT angiography and contrast-enhanced TCCD are complementary noninvasive diagnostic tools. Disagreements between the diagnostic findings of these methods still need further evaluation by digital subtraction angiography.