The Clinical Research of TCD in Diagnosis of Subclavian Steal Syndrome

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of subclavian steal syndrome(SSS) by transcranial doppler ultrasound(TCD).Methods Retrospectively reviewed 100 cases by TCD diagnosis of subclavian artery(Sub-A) severe stenosis or occlusion.Using transcranial doppler ultrasound to detect the bilateral vertebral artery blood flow velocity and spectrum changings according to the direction of blood flow of the ipsilateral vertebral artery(Ip-VA) TCD detection,the steal extent is divided into: no steal(Ip-VA full forward),stage Ⅰ(Ip-VA systolic notch),stage II steal(Ip-VA systolic reverse diastolic forward) and stage Ⅲcompletely steal(Ip-VA is reverse flow completely).The steal pathway was defined as basilar artery steal pathway(with steal waveform in basilar artery) or non-basilar artery steal pathway(normal direction in BA).Results No steal 35 cases,stage Ⅰ 20 cases,stageⅡ 15 cases,stage Ⅲ 30 cases.Conclusion TCD is a reliable method of diagnosis of SSS and steal extent applicable to the clinical diagnosis.