Cerebral vasculitis: diagnosis and follow-up with transcranial Doppler ultrasonography

A Y Razumovsky1, R J Wityk, R G Geocadin

  • 1Department of Neurology, Neurosciences Critical Care Division, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Meyer 8-140, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21287-7840, USA. arazumov@jhmi.jhu.edu

The authors report a patient with postpartum intracerebral hemorrhage associated with cerebral vasculitis. Cerebral circulation was assessed with transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasonography, magnetic resonance angiography, and conventional cerebral angiography. Initial TCD studies demonstrated bilateral patchy increased cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) in the anterior circulation with complete normalization during remission. This case report provides evidence that cerebral vasculitis leads to relevant CBFV changes and that the TCD technique may assist in diagnosis and follow-up of these patients.

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