Abstract
Over the last few years, many authors have described the possibility of using transcranial Doppler to demonstrate the passage of microemboli in the cerebral arteries. We report the case of a 44-year-old woman with thrombotic diathesis and thrombocytosis who was admitted twice within a short period of time (one and a half months) to a neurological department because of multiple cerebral infarctions. On the occasion of the second admission, a colour-Doppler examination of the epiaortic vessels, which had previously been negative, showed a carotid lesion due to a mural thrombus and, on the same side as the carotid lesion, transcranial Doppler detected short-duration, high-intensity signals in the middle and anterior cerebral arteries, an expression of the passage of microemboli.
As already described by other authors in similar clinical situations, our case confirms that transcranial Doppler can identify the passage of microemboli in the circle of Willis.
Sommario
Negli ultimi anni è stata descritta da molti autori la possibilità di dimostrare mediante Doppler transcranico il passaggio di microemboli nelle arterie cerebrali. Riportiamo il caso di una donna di 44 anni con diatesi trombotica e trombocitosi ricoverata per due volte, a breve distanza di tempo (un mese e mezzo), in ambiente neurologico per infarti cerebrali multipli. In occasione del secondo ricovero l'esame Color-Doppler dei vasi epiaortici, che era risultato negativo in precedenza, ha evidenziato una lesione carotidea riferibile a un trombo murale e al Doppler transcranico sono stati rilevati, omolateralmente alla lesione carotidea, segnali di breve durata ed alta intensità nelle arterie cerebrali media e anteriore, espressione di passaggio di microemboli.
Come già descritto da alcuni autori in situazioni cliniche simili, il nostro caso conferma la possibilità di individuare, mediante Doppler transcranico, il passaggio di microemboli nel circolo cerebrale.
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Solaro, M., Roberti, C., Spalloni, A. et al. Microembolization from a carotid mural thrombus detected by transcranial Doppler. Ital J Neuro Sci 17, 75–78 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01995713
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01995713