Cerebrovascular reacivity assessment in patients with carotid artery disease: a combined TCD and NIRS study.

Spyros N Vasdekis, Georgios Tsivgoulis, Dimitrios Athanasiadis, Athina Andrikopoulou, Konstantinos Voumvourakis, Andreas M Lazaris, Elefterios Stamboulis

Vascular Unit, Third Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.

Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging 2012 Jul

filter terms:

Transcranial Doppler (TCD) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) are two noninvasive diagnostic tools that have been shown to evaluate cerebral vasomotor reactivity by measuring changes in mean cerebral blood flow velocities (MCBFV) of proximal intracranial arteries and absolute brain-tissue oxygen-saturation (TOS) in microcirculation, respectively, during hemodynamic challenge. We evaluated the potential correlation between TCD and NIRS measurements of vasomotor reactivity (VMR) in patients with carotid artery disease (CARAD). Consecutive patients (n = 24) with CARAD underwent simultaneously TCD and NIRS examinations during voluntary breath-holding (BH). MCBFV and TOS values were recorded at baseline (BAS) and at the end of BH, while BH duration (DBH) was documented. VMR was quantified by means of TCD-BHI (Breath-holding Index: [MCBFV(BH) - MCBFV(BAS)]× 100/MCBFV(BAS)/DBH) and NIRS-BHI ([TOS(BH) - TOS(BAS)]× 100/ TOS(BAS)/DBH). TCD-BHI correlated positively with NIRS-BHI in the affected side (r = .538, P = .007). A stronger correlation between TCD-BHI and NIRS-BHI was documented in the nonaffected side (r = .768, P< .001). After adjusting for demographic characteristics, stroke risk factors and symptomatic status NIRS-BHI was linearly and independently associated with TCD-BHI both in the affected (β:+ .813, P = .001) and unaffected (β:+ .823, P < .001) side. Circulatory assessment of VMR in proximal cerebral vessels by TCD correlates positively to functional measurements of VMR in microcirculation by NIRS in CARAD patients. © 2011 by the American Society of Neuroimaging.

Citation

Spyros N Vasdekis, Georgios Tsivgoulis, Dimitrios Athanasiadis, Athina Andrikopoulou, Konstantinos Voumvourakis, Andreas M Lazaris, Elefterios Stamboulis. Cerebrovascular reacivity assessment in patients with carotid artery disease: a combined TCD and NIRS study. Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging. 2012 Jul;22(3):261-5