Imaging of basilar artery and measurement of blood flow velocity by real-time color flow Doppler ultrasonography

Abstract

We report an attempt to obtain the image of the basilar artery and to measure the absolute mean-flow velocity in basilar artery by the real-time color flow Doppler ultrasonography.
In 16 healthy volunteers (range 20-59 : mean 30 ± 9 years old), basilar artery could be recorded from a nuchal position via the posterior bone and/or the foramen magnun. The basilar artery was clealy delineated as a red stream. The absolute mean-flow velocity was calculated by dividing the measured velocity by the cosine of the incident angle. The corrected mean-flow velocity of the basilar artery was 41.2 ± 12.6 cm/sec.
Real-teim color flow Doppler ultrasonography permits more accurate noninvasive quantification of basilar hemodynamic consequences than TCD.