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Transcranial Doppler (TCD/TCCS) and Cerebral Blood Flow: Applications in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit

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Neurosonology in Critical Care

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Abstract

Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography represents a noninvasive method to evaluate flow velocities through the basal cerebral arteries. By evaluating the flow velocity spectrum of the cerebral arteries, transcranial Doppler ultrasound can provide information on the direction of flow, patency of vessels, focal stenosis, and cerebrovascular reactivity, and estimates of cerebral blood flow.

By comparing changes to flow velocity to changes in blood pressure, transcranial Doppler ultrasonography can be used to estimate cerebral blood flow and cerebral autoregulation in select circumstances. Similarly, increasing flow velocities after subarachnoid hemorrhage are often interpreted as worsening cerebral vasospasm and can be used to guide therapies. Transcranial Doppler ultrasound in the neurological intensive care unit has also been used in head trauma, intracerebral hemorrhage, and assessing sources of ischemic stroke. Transcranial Doppler ultrasound has also been used as a confirmatory test for brain death.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA

    Edward M. Manno & Farzeneh Sorond

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  1. Edward M. Manno
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  2. Farzeneh Sorond
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Correspondence to Edward M. Manno .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Critical Care, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Camilo N. Rodríguez

  2. Stroke Unit & Neurosonology Lab, University of Padua School of Medicine, Padova, Italy

    Claudio Baracchini

  3. Department of Critical Care and Anesthesiology, Fundación Valle del Lili, Cali, Colombia

    Jorge H. Mejia-Mantilla

  4. Department of Clinical Neurosciences Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Marek Czosnyka

  5. Departments of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Jose I Suarez

  6. President of Hungarian Neurological Society, Department of Neurology, Clinical Center Debrecen University, Debrecen, Hungary

    László Csiba

  7. Intensive Care Unit, Clinics Hospital, Universidad de la Republica School of Medicine, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Corina Puppo

  8. Center for Neurological Vascular Diagnostics, Munich, Germany

    Eva Bartels

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Manno, E.M., Sorond, F. (2022). Transcranial Doppler (TCD/TCCS) and Cerebral Blood Flow: Applications in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit. In: Rodríguez, C.N., et al. Neurosonology in Critical Care . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81419-9_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81419-9_8

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