[Ultrasonic dopplerography in the diagnosis of occlusive lesions of the vertebral arteries].

Examinations of the blood flow in the vertebral arteries were carried out in 105 patients with circulatory disorders in the vertebrobasilary system. For this purpose the method of ultrasonic dopplerography with subsequent bilateral axillar cerebral angiography was used. The examinations were performed by the transcutaneous method in the author's modification. This made it possible to evaluate reliably the hemodynamics in the vertebral arteries in each patient using the asymmetry coefficient related to the linear speed of the blood flow in the vessels. It was found that in increase of the asymmetry coefficient by 50% or more was, as a rule, associated with an occluding process in one of the vertebral arteries. The agreement between the dopplerographic and the angiographic findings was observed in 80% of the cases of occlusions, and in 85,7% of the cases of vertebral artery stenoses. This makes it possible to recommend the ultrasonic dopplerography method for broad use in polyclinic conditions for examining patients with vertebrobasilar pathology, and for screening persons with an increased risk of cerebrovascular diseases.