Scanning of Carotid Arteries, Ophthalmic Doppler Flow and Cervical Bruits

In 38 patients who underwent cerebrovascular evaluation followed by angiography the Doppler ultrasound scanning technique was found to be an excellent screening procedure for detecting marked stenosis (>50%) or occlusion of the internal carotid artery (93% correlation). It is noninvasive, easily reproducible and can be performed by a qualified technician. The major problems are: the inability to detect ulcerated plaques without marked stenosis, the requirement for patient cooperation (lying still for periods of 15 minutes), and the fact that it assesses only the extracranial circulation. Screening with just the directional ophthalmic Doppler flow signal yielded a high percentage of false negatives (13%). The presence of a cervical bruit may indicate an underlying stenosis of the internal carotid artery, but may also be due to stenosis of the external carotid artery or other factors such as increased blood flow, vessel tortuosity, etc. (12% false positives). Absence of a cervical bruit does not exclude internal carotid artery disease (ulcerated nonstenotic plaque or occlusion).