RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Transcranial Doppler: An Introduction for Primary Care Physicians
JF The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
JO J Am Board Fam Med
FD American Board of Family Medicine
SP 65
OP 71
DO 10.3122/jabfm.2007.01.060128
VO 20
IS 1
A1 Mounzer Y. Kassab
A1 Arshad Majid
A1 Muhammad U. Farooq
A1 Hend Azhary
A1 Linda A. Hershey
A1 Edward M. Bednarczyk
A1 Dion F. Graybeal
A1 Mark D. Johnson
YR 2007
UL http://www.jabfm.org/content/20/1/65.abstract
AB Transcranial Doppler (TCD) is a diagnostic tool that can be used at bedside to assess the cerebral vasculature noninvasively. It is inexpensive, safe, and reliable when compared with other techniques. It can be repeated multiple times and can be used for continuous monitoring if needed. Screening of children with sickle cell disease to assess and prevent ischemic strokes and monitoring for vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage are well established, evidenced based utilizations of TCD. It is useful for the evaluation of occlusive intracranial vascular lesions with many emerging indications in the management of ischemic stroke. TCD with micro-bubble enhancement has comparable sensitivity to transesophageal echocardiogram in detecting right-to-left atrial cardiac shunts. TCD is underused as a clinical tool despite well established indications. The pressure to contain increasing medical cost will likely result in increased utilization of this test in future.