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Copyright of Česká a Slovenská Neurologie a Neurochirurgie is the property of Czech Medical Association of JE Purkyne and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Unlabelled: The prosperity of brain parenchyma during aging depends on the preservation of cerebral blood flow (CBF) parameters. We have analysed ultrasonographic measurements of peak systolic (PSV) and end diastolic velocities (EDV) along with pulsatility (PI) and resistance indexes (RI) in common (CCA), internal (ICA) and external carotid artery (ECA) (N=199) and in vertebral arteries (VA) (N=200) in patients without any signs of stenosis. In two other cohorts patients with internal carotid artery stenosis (N=231) and patients prior to and after therapeutic recanalization (N=81) were evaluated in the same parameters., Results: in the range of 21-92 years PSV in CCA decreases by 7 mm/s/year, while in ICA only by 2.31 mm/s/year. The decrease of EDV in carotid arteries occurs between 1.72 and 2.28 mm/s/year. PSV in VA drops down by 0.91 mm/s/year, EDV by 0.86 mm/s/year. PI and RI increase with age in all vessels, but not significantly. Stenotic ICAs are associated with increased PSV in the range of 0.7-2.9 m/s, but also with an increasing PSV variability along the growing stenosis in individual patients. In all degrees of stenoses some patients preserve normal velocities. In average the increment for each 10% of the stenosis below 50% makes 8 cm/s, while above 50% it makes already 50 cm/s. In persons with bilateral stenoses the increment with growing stenosis is steeper. The restoration of normal ICA lumen by means of carotid endarterectomy or by angioplasty with stenting results in an average drop by 1.23 m/s in PSV and by 0.4 m/s in EDV. We have investigated the ophthalmic artery and other substitution supplies and deduce, that the remarkable differences in blood flow velocity reactions to a compromised carotid lumen depend on the formation of collaterals in mutual interplay with peripheral resistance.

The aim of the work was to assess the frequency, localization and degree of pathological changes in the extracranial segment of carotid arteries in patients in different stages of hypertension by using ultrasonic diagnosis. The authors examined 115 hypertonic patients stage I and II and 95 hypertonic patients stage III according to the WHO classification. They compared the results with a group of 20 subjects, healthy from the clinical and biochemical aspect. The examinations were made by means of an Exhoflow II apparatus of Diagnostic Electronic Corporation, using the method described by Traubner (16). The findings in the control group were normal. In the hypertonic patients stage I and II in 15 (13%) mild, haemodynamically insignificant changes were recorded. In the hypertonics stage III 31 (32.6%) had a pathological finding, incl. 16 patients (16.8%) who had severe stenotic changes, serious from the haemodynamic aspect.

The purpose of the submitted paper is to inform the wider medical public on a new non-invasive ultrasonic method for the examination of intracranial portions of the cerebral arteries. It is three-dimensional transcranial dopplerometry introduced for the first time in Czechoslovakia. The apparatus, Trans-scan 3-D of EME, makes it possible to obtain so-called ultrasonic arteriograms-scans of the basal arteries of the circle of Willis in all three projections with concurrent aimed analysis of flow parameters in real time. The results of this examination correlate significantly with angiographic findings. It is a risk-free method which does not cause discomfort to the patient and makes any number of repeated examinations possible. It is useful for the detection of pathological intracranial vascular conditions.

Using a Trans-scan 3-D (EME) apparatus and a 2 MHz pulsed probe the authors examined from a temporal approach 30 clinically healthy subjects with normal biochemical tests, and assessed normal values of flow parameters of the population for the median cerebral artery, the anterior cerebral artery, the posterior cerebral artery, the terminal portion of the internal carotid artery and basilar artery which was examined via the foramen occipitale magnum. The normal flow rate recorded does not differ significantly from data reported in the literature. The method can be used for the detection of intracranial vascular lesions. The examination does not involve risk for the patient and provides accurate information on the blood flow in the circle of Willis.