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Color Doppler ultrasonography is a reliable diagnostic tool in the diagnosis of extracranial vertebral artery dissections

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of color Doppler sonography (CDS) in the diagnosis of extracranial vertebral artery dissections (EVADs). One hundred and fifty consecutive patients (age range 21–51 years, mean 44 years) with a clinical suspicion of vertebral artery dissection (VAD) were included in this study. All patients underwent CDS of vertebral arteries as the first-line imaging modality. Cervical T1-weighted fat-saturated axial MR images served as the gold standard. Of the 150 patients with a clinical suspicion of VAD, 27 patients were ultimately diagnosed with EVADs based on fat-saturated T1-weighted MR imaging. MR imaging was considered positive when crescentic hyperintensity (methemoglobin signal) was demonstrated at the wall of the vertebral artery. CDS was positive in 21 of these 27 patients and revealed either intramural hematoma or a dissecting membrane with two lumina. The most frequent site of involvement was the V1 to proximal V2 segment. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of CDS in the diagnosis of EVADs were 77.8, 98.4, 91.3, and 95.3%, respectively. CDS is a reliable diagnostic tool in the diagnosis of EVADs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, University of Health Sciences, Adana Health Practice and Research Center, Adana, Turkey

    Cengiz Yılmaz, Feride Fatma Gorgulu, Fatma Yasemin Oksuzler & Ayse Selcan Koc

  2. Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey

    Muhammet Arslan

  3. Department of Radiology, Medline Hospital, Adana, Turkey

    Mahmut Oksuzler

  4. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Health Sciences, Adana Health Practice and Research Center, Adana, Turkey

    Sakir Ozgur Keskek

Authors
  1. Cengiz Yılmaz
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  2. Feride Fatma Gorgulu
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  3. Fatma Yasemin Oksuzler
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  4. Muhammet Arslan
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  5. Mahmut Oksuzler
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  6. Sakir Ozgur Keskek
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  7. Ayse Selcan Koc
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Correspondence to Ayse Selcan Koc.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests or sources of funding.

Ethical statement

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from patients for being included in the study.

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Yılmaz, C., Gorgulu, F.F., Oksuzler, F.Y. et al. Color Doppler ultrasonography is a reliable diagnostic tool in the diagnosis of extracranial vertebral artery dissections. J Med Ultrasonics 46, 153–158 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10396-018-0901-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10396-018-0901-2

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