Comparative analysis between transcranial color duplex sonography and magnetic resonance angiography in patients with stroke.

BACKGROUND Cerebrovascular diseases are among the most frequent diseases of the central nervous system. There are several diagnostic methods for cerebral blood vessels evaluation. The optimal test is characterized with low risk, availability and diagnostic certainty. Lately, the rapid development of transcranial color duplex sonography (TCCS) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) have shown that they are the most useful techniques for non-invasive investigation of cerebral blood vessels. PURPOSE To compare transcranial color duplex sonography (TCCS) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) in the evaluation of patients with stroke. METHODS Using TCCS, hemodynamic parameters were measured in intracranial arteries in 50 patients with ischemic stroke. Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) was carried out in all patients during 1-5 days after sonography. According to TCCS findings, patients were divided into the following groups: I) group with normal findings; II) group with occlusion of middle cerebral artery (MCA) branches; III) group with MCA stenosis and IV) group with occlusion of MCA trunk. TCCS findings were compared with MRA findings, which were considered as a golden standard. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and the overall accuracy of the test were determined. RESULTS In all groups of patients, high levels of sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value were obtained. The certainty of TCCS in determining normal and pathologic findings of the intracranial arteries was at risk level less than 1%. CONCLUSION TCCS is a safe and secure diagnostic modality which serves for fast and recurrent evaluation of intracranial vessels patency in the acute stroke phase and it is an imaging method with high sensitivity and specificity in determining the steno-occlusive intracranial lesions.