Self-audible venous bruits and high jugular bulb

The association between self-audible bruits and ipsilateral high jugular bulbs was demonstrated in five patients, emphasizing the benign nature of the condition. Symptoms included a unilateral pulsatile "whooshing" that was eliminated by gentle pressure on the neck or extreme head rotation to the symptomatic side and was enhanced by conditions that increased cardiac output. The bruits were not audible to examiners. On the basis of one patient with an intracranial tumor, it is proposed that raised intracranial pressure alone, in the absence of a jugular bulb abnormality, is an insufficient explanation for a venous self-audible bruit.