Static and real-time B-mode sonography of arterial occlusions

Static and real-time sonography can be used to confirm the clinical diagnosis of arterial occlusion. When occluded, both native arteries and grafts showed three sonographically detectable patterns. More often (18/23), the vessel or graft has a normal B-mode appearance but does not pulsate on real-time examination. Less often (4/23), there is no detectable vascular channel. In one instance, using a 10 MHz transducer, the occluding thrombus was demonstrated. Real-time imaging is an important tool in the examination of patients with vascular disease and can distinguish the normal-appearing but occluded artery seen on static examination from the patent, pulsatile one.