Transcranial Doppler sonographic monitoring during cerebral aneurysm embolization: a preliminary report.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The wide application of embolization in the treatment of aneurysms has created the need for an intraprocedural means to anticipate a poor outcome by monitoring hemodynamic changes in the brain. METHODS Transcranial Doppler sonography was used to monitor flow velocity in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) in 23 patients undergoing embolization with Guglielmi detachable coils (GDCs) of either incidental or symptomatic intracranial aneurysms. Sonographic values were recorded from the ipsilateral MCA at the beginning, middle, and end of the interventional procedure and 24 hours afterward. RESULTS No complications occurred in 15 patients. In these cases, sonography showed an average decrease in MCA flow velocity of 2.7% after GDC application, returning to baseline at the end of treatment and then increasing by about 17% 24 hours later. In four patients with vasospasm on posttreatment angiograms, MCA flow velocity increased to values higher than 120 cm/s after GDC application, returning to baseline after 24 hours. In four patients with ischemic complications (two transient ischemic attacks, one stroke, one vascular death), MCA flow velocity decreased more than 30% and did not return to preoperative values within 24 hours. CONCLUSION The application of transcranial Doppler sonographic monitoring during endovascular treatment may help to identify patients at risk for posttreatment cerebral ischemia.