Emboli detection with Doppler ultrasonography

Cerebral embolism is one of the most common mechanisms of stroke. TCD is recently used to detect emboli. Passing through the sample volume, emboli cause a short (less than 0.1 s) increase in the Doppler signal power. They are unidirectional within the Doppler spectrum, the intensity of the Doppler signal is dependent on the size of the embolus type, their duration depends on their velocity and the size of the sample volume, and they sound like whistles. Emboli can be detected by examination of the CCA or ICA on the neck, or by TCD of the major intracranial arteries - mostly MCA. The detection of emboli has a number of potential clinical applications: invasive cardiovascular examinations such as cerebral angiography and cardiac catheterisation, cardiopulmonary bypass, carotid endarterectomy, patients with carotid stenosis, aortic arch plaques, intracranial ath. stenosis, patients with a potential cardiac embolic source - mural thrombi following myocardial infarction, atrial thrombus in patients with atrial fibrillation, prosthetic heart valves, acinetic heart region, aneurism, valvular heart disease. Emboli detection in determining which of these patients are at the greatest risk of embolic stroke will allow more individual therapeutic and prophylactic decisions.