Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Color Duplex Scanning of Vertebral Artery

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Noninvasive Vascular Diagnosis

  • 39 Accesses

Abstract

An ultrasound examination of the extracranial portions of the vertebral artery constitutes an inexpensive and widely available screening method (being a mandatory part of a carotid duplex examination) to diagnose atherosclerotic disease and a variety of other findings, and to further identify candidates for more invasive diagnostic evaluations. Furthermore, duplex scanning of the vertebral artery can help determine the pathogenic mechanism of an ischemic stroke and can lead to an early initiation of a mechanism-specific stroke treatment or prevention. Extracranial vertebral duplex scanning should be performed in conjunction with transcranial Doppler or color-coded duplex scanning in patients with stroke and transient ischemic attacks. The aim of this chapter is to describe the methods of vertebral artery color duplex scanning, practical criteria for interpretation, and relevance of these findings to patient management.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Savitz SI, Caplan LR. Vertebrobasilar disease. N Engl J Med. 2005;352:2618–26.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Ringelstein EB, Zeumer H, Hündgen R, Meya U. Angiologic and prognostic evaluation of brain stem injuries. Clinical, Doppler-sonographic and neuroradiological findings. Dtsch Med Wochenschr. 1983;108(43):1625–31.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Davis PC, Nilsen B, Braun IF, Hoffman JC Jr. A prospective comparison of duplex sonography vs angiography of the vertebral arteries. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 1986;7(6):1059–64.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Touboul PJ, Bousser MG, LaPlane D, Castaigne P. Duplex scanning of normal vertebral arteries. Stroke. 1986;17(5):921–3.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Winter R, Biedert S, Staudacher T, Betz H, Reuther R. Vertebral artery Doppler sonography. Eur Arch Psychiatry Neurol Sci. 1987;237(1):21–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Touboul PJ, Mas JL, Bousser MG, Laplane D. Duplex scanning in extracranial vertebral artery dissection. Stroke. 1988;19(1):116–21.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. De Bray JM, Blard JM, Tachot C, Ledemeney M, Davinroy M. Transcranial Doppler ultrasonic examination in vertebro-basilar circulatory pathology. J Mal Vasc. 1989;14(3):202–5.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Delcker A, Diener HC. The value of color duplex for sonography of the vertebral artery. VASA Suppl. 1991;33:204–5.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Bartels E. Duplex sonography of the vertebral arteries. 2. Clinical application. Ultraschall Med. 1991;12(2):63–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Schneider PA, Rossman ME, Bernstein EF, Ringelstein EB, Torem S, Otis SM. Noninvasive evaluation of vertebrobasilar insufficiency. J Ultrasound Med. 1991;10(7):373–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Bartels E, Fuchs HH, Flügel KA. Duplex ultrasonography of vertebral arteries: examination, technique, normal values, and clinical applications. Angiology. 1992;43(3 Pt 1):169–80.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Delcker A, Diener HC, Timmann D, Faustmann P. The role of vertebral and internal carotid artery disease in the pathogenesis of vertebrobasilar transient ischemic attacks. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 1993;242(4):179–83.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. de Bray JM, Missoum A, Dubas F, Emile J, Lhoste P. Detection of vertebrobasilar intracranial stenoses: transcranial Doppler sonography versus angiography. J Ultrasound Med. 1997;16(3):213–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. de Bray JM, Pasco A, Tranquart F, Papon X, Alecu C, Giraudeau B, et al. Accuracy of color-Doppler in the quantification of proximal vertebral artery stenoses. Cerebrovasc Dis. 2001;11(4):335–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Koch S, Romano JG, Park H, Amir M, Forteza AM. Ultrasound velocity criteria for vertebral origin stenosis. J Neuroimaging. 2009;19(3):242–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Hua Y, Meng XF, Jia LY, Ling C, Miao ZR, Ling F, et al. Color Doppler imaging evaluation of proximal vertebral artery stenosis. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2009;193(5):1434–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Kwon JY, Kim NY, Suh DC, Kang DW, Kwon SU, Kim JS. Intracranial and extracranial arterial dissection presenting with ischemic stroke: lesion location and stroke mechanism. J Neurol Sci. 2015;358(1-2):371–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Sturzenegger M, Mattle HP, Rivoir A, Rihs F, Schmid C. Ultrasound findings in spontaneous extracranial vertebral artery dissection. Stroke. 1993;24(12):1910–21.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Bartels E, Flügel KA. Evaluation of extracranial vertebral artery dissection with duplex color-flow imaging. Stroke. 1996;27(2):290–5.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Bradac GB. Cerebral angiography: normal anatomy and vascular pathology. 2nd ed. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer; 2014.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  21. Cloud GC, Markus HS. Diagnosis and management of vertebral artery stenosis. QJM. 2003;96(1):27–54.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Compter A, van der Worp HB, Algra A, Kappelle LJ. Prevalence and prognosis of asymptomatic vertebral artery origin stenosis in patients with clinically manifest arterial disease. Stroke. 2011;42(10):2795–800.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Lin SK, Ryu SJ, Chang YJ, Lee TH. Clinical relevance of musical murmurs in color-coded carotid and transcranial duplex sonographies. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2006;27(7):1493–7.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Gottesman RF, Sharma P, Robinson KA, Arnan M, Tsui M, Saber-Tehrani A, et al. Imaging characteristics of symptomatic vertebral artery dissection: a systematic review. Neurologist. 2012;18(5):255–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Droste DW, Junker K, Stögbauer F, Lowens S, Besselmann M, Braun B, et al. Clinically silent circulating microemboli in 20 patients with carotid or vertebral artery dissection. Cerebrovasc Dis. 2001;12(3):181–5.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Grossman BL, Brisman R, Wood EH. Ultrasound and the subclavian steal syndrome. Radiology. 1970;94(1):1–6.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. von Reutern GM, Büdingen HJ. Doppler sonographic study of the vertebral artery in subclavian steal syndrome. Dtsch Med Wochenschr. 1977;102(4):140–1.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Reutern GM, Büdingen HJ, Freund HJ. The diagnosis of obstructions of the vertebral and subclavian arteries by means of directional Doppler sonography. Arch Psychiatr Nervenkr. 1976;222(2-3):209–22.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Klingelhöfer J, Conrad B, Benecke R, Frank B. Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography of carotid-basilar collateral circulation in subclavian steal. Stroke. 1988;19(8):1036–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Walker DW, Acker JD, Cole CA. Subclavian steal syndrome detected with duplex pulsed Doppler sonography. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 1982;3(6):615–8.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  31. Chen SP, Hu YP. Waveform patterns and peak reversed velocity in vertebral arteries predict severe subclavian artery stenosis and occlusion. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2015;41(5):1328–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Chen SP, Hu YP, Fan LH, Guan LJ. Completely reversed flow in the vertebral artery does not always indicate subclavian steal phenomenon. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2014;40(6):1072–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

Dr. Marc Ribo was the original first author of this chapter in the second edition of the book. Subsequent editions were modified from the second edition of the book.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Saxony, Germany

    Jessica Barlinn & Kristian Barlinn

  2. Department of Neurology, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA

    Andrei V. Alexandrov

Authors
  1. Jessica Barlinn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kristian Barlinn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andrei V. Alexandrov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kristian Barlinn .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, West Virginia University, Charleston, WV, USA

    Ali F. AbuRahma

  2. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA

    Bruce A. Perler

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Surgery, Division of Vascular/Endovascular Surgery, West Virginia University/Charleston Division, Charleston, WV, USA

    Ali F. AbuRahma

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Barlinn, J., Barlinn, K., Alexandrov, A.V. (2021). Color Duplex Scanning of Vertebral Artery. In: AbuRahma, A.F., Perler, B.A. (eds) Noninvasive Vascular Diagnosis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49616-6_14-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49616-6_14-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-49616-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-49616-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation