Cervical bruits in hemodialysis patients

Twenty-five patients receiving chronic hemodialysis were studied with systematic cervical auscultation and periorbital Doppler tests to determine the incidence of cervical bruits and their significance. Eighteen (72%) of the patients had bruits. All of the bruits heard in this study were loudest in the supraclavicular fossa, and in no patient was a bruit heard along the carotid arteries without a louder bruit of similar characteristics more proximally. No patient with a bruit in the area of the carotid bifurcation had an abnormal ipsilateral periorbital Doppler examination, and none had symptoms of cerebral ischemia. There was no evidence in these patients that the bruits were related to occlusive arterial disease. It is concluded that most cervical bruits in patients receiving hemodialysis are the result of a hyperdynamic circulatory state associated with anemia and arteriovenous fistulae.