Transcranial Doppler assessment of patients with cerebral small vessel disease

• Published in: The Egyptian Journal of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery Vol. 58; no. 1; pp. 1 - 7
• Main Authors: Tawfik, Mohamed M., Ebrahim, Alaa, Hamed, Salma, Haroun, Mahmoud
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 12.12.2022; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Apraxia; Atherosclerosis; Cardiovascular disease; Cerebral large artery disease; Cerebral small vessel disease; Dementia; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Microbleeds; MRI brain; Neurology; Neurosurgery; Patient assessment; Psychiatry; Stroke; Transcranial Doppler; Vein & artery diseases; MRI brain; Stroke; Cerebral large artery disease; Microbleeds; Transcranial Doppler; Cerebral small vessel disease
• ISSN: 1110-1083; 1687-8329
• DOI: 10.1186/s41983-022-00591-6

Background Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is associated with acute events such as lacunar and hemorrhagic strokes, or chronic events such as cognitive deficit in the form of subcortical dementia, mood deficit in the form of late onset depression, sphincteric affection, and gait apraxia. Under conditions of moderate blood flow deficit, the inability of sclerotic vessels to dilate due to impairment of the cerebral autoregulation, renders the periventricular white matter seriously ischemic. Therefore, it is important to detect the implications of cerebral large artery disease on the severity of SVD, and the ability of transcranial duplex (TCD) to evaluate it in people at risk. Methods Fifty lacunar stroke patients were recruited, and evaluated using MRI brain to assess SVD score, carotid duplex and TCD to assess extracranial and intracranial stenoses, respectively. Results Both intracranial and extracranial stenoses showed significant relation to the severity of cerebral SVD. Moreover, there were significant relation between intracranial stenosis and presence of lacuna and EPVS. Conclusion Cerebral large artery disease contributes to the pathogenesis and severity of cerebral SVD. Therefore, TCD may be a useful tool for the prediction of occurrence of cerebral SVD in high-risk individuals, especially hypertensives.