Radiology, Vol 186, 775-783, Copyright © 1993 by Radiological Society of North America
Pediatric intracranial vascular malformations: evaluation of treatment results with color Doppler US. Work in progress
SJ Westra, JG Curran, GR Duckwiler, A Zaninovic, TR Hall, NA Martin, MI Boechat and F Vinuela
Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine 90024-1721.
To determine the value of color Doppler ultrasound (US) in the preoperative
assessment and evaluation of treatment results in children with
intracranial vascular malformations (VMs), the authors performed 36 color
Doppler US studies in nine children who underwent endovascular
embolization. Color flow imaging with spectral waveform analysis of feeding
arteries, nidus, draining veins, and uninvolved cranial vasculature was
performed, and correlation was made with other imaging findings. In most
VMs, color Doppler US enabled the authors to map the lesion completely.
Hemodynamic changes after embolization included improvement in blood supply
to uninvolved portions of the brain and increase in caliber and flow of
feeding vessels that were not occluded during embolization. Serial volume
flow measurements were performed with Doppler US in major extracranial
arteries. Success of embolization was indicated by substantial decrease of
total carotid artery flow. Color Doppler US is a noninvasive modality that
adds important imaging and hemodynamic data to those provided by
angiography.
