Cerebral angiography and ultrasonic quantitative flow measurement of common carotid artery in patients with cerebral infarction.

Blood flow rate and velocity in the common carotid artery were measured with an ultrasonic quantitative flow measurement (QFM) system and cerebral angiography was performed in 98 patients about four weeks after the onset of cerebral infarction. Angiography revealed complete occlusion in 13 patients (CO group), visible stenosis in 45 patients (S group), and no apparent stenosis in 40 patients (N group). In the CO group, damaged-side blood flow (DF; 4.80 ml/sec) and velocity (DV; 10.5 cm/sec) were significantly lower (P less than 0.01) than intact-side blood flow (7.19 ml/sec) and velocity (14.86 cm/sec). Both DF and DV were significantly lower in group CO than group S (7.55 ml/sec and 15.04 cm/sec) and in group S than group N (9.32 ml/sec and 18.07 cm/sec). Degree of stenosis in the internal carotid and middle cerebral arteries was significantly associated with reduced DF (P less than 0.05). Of the 24 patients with a mean DF of under 6.5 ml/sec, 15 had stenosis of 75% or more; of the 74 patients with a mean DF of 6.5 ml/sec or more, 66 had stenosis of less than 25%. The results indicate that blood flow determined by QFM reflects the degree of occlusion or stenosis in the intracranial trunk arteries and may thus provide a practical, noninvasive method of assessing the severity of cerebrovascular lesions.