Transcranial Doppler sonography monitoring of local intra-arterial thrombolysis in acute occlusion of the middle cerebral artery.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The aim of this study is to report on the use of transcranial Doppler ultrasonography as a noninvasive diagnostic monitoring tool during local intra-arterial thrombolysis in a patient with acute embolic occlusion of the middle cerebral artery. CASE DESCRIPTION We describe a 41-year-old woman with mitral valve stenosis suffering from embolism of the middle cerebral artery. Local thrombolysis was performed with tissue plasminogen activator at a dosage of 0.05 mg/kg/hr. Progress of the thrombolysis was monitored by transcranial Doppler. The steps of recanalization could be ascertained by transcranial ultrasound showing a hemodynamically relevant residual stenosis after the first 120 minutes and complete patency of the M1 segment of the middle cerebral artery 180 minutes later. One branch of the middle cerebral artery still showed a filling defect. CONCLUSIONS Our report demonstrates the potential usefulness of transcranial Doppler monitoring during thrombolysis of a proximal occlusion of the middle cerebral artery for guiding the treatment by assessing the reperfusion of the obstructed artery.