Evaluation of cerebral AVM's using transcranial Doppler ultrasound

Blood flow velocities in basal cerebral arteries were recorded noninvasively in 28 patients with cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVM's) and were correlated with the angiographic findings. In normal arteries remote from the AVM, flow velocities ranged from 44 to 94 cm/sec (median 65 cm/sec) with pulsatility indexes from 0.65 to 1.10 (median 0.87). This is consistent with findings in normal individuals. Arteries feeding the AVM's were identified by the high flow velocities (ranging from 75 to 237 cm/sec, median 124 cm/sec). The pulsatility index ranged from 0.22 to 0.74 (median 0.48). The difference of these results from findings in normal remote arteries was highly significant (p less than 0.001). Hyperventilation tests illustrated the hemodynamic difference between an AVM and normal cerebrovascular beds. Flow velocity measurements permitted noninvasive diagnosis of AVM's in 26 of the 28 patients. Furthermore, the identification of individual feeding arteries permitted good definition of the anatomical localization of individual AVM's. Flow velocity measurements combined with computerized tomography scans are useful in the diagnosis of AVM's. With the feeding artery's configuration identified on angiography, flow velocity measurements permit a new insight into the "hemodynamic dimension" of an AVM and its possible effects on adjacent normal brain-tissue perfusion in the individual patient.