Clinical assessment of the complex instrumental examination in cerebrovascular disease patients

Abstract

Aim. To compare clinical manifestations of cerebrovascular disease (CerVD) with the results of modern instrumental examination methods, using the semi-quantitative approach. Material and methods. In total, 40 CerVD patients with ischemic stroke in anamnesis or discirculatory encephalopathy were examined. All participants underwent duplex scanning (DS) of neck and head vessels, magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) of cerebral vessels and positron emission tomography (PET) of the brain. The observed disturbances were coded as “mild” (+), “moderate” (++), or “severe” (+++). Results. Clinical manifestations of CerVD correlated with PET-diagnosed cerebral perfusion disturbances. In 50 % of the cases, cerebral atherosclerosis in CerVD patients was characterised by combined pathology of carotid and vertebro-basilar arteries (CA, VBA), while isolated VBA pathology was relatively rare (10 %). The first-affected segments were extracranial vessels (35 %) or extracranial and intracranial vessels (27 %). A strong correlation between clinical CerVD symptoms and morphological vascular changes at DS and MRA was observed in 45 %. Conclusion. Among CerVD patients, complex instrumental examination could help in assessment of the disease severity, prognosis and therapy choice.

Keywords

• cerebrovascular disease
• duplex scanning
• magnetic resonance tomography
• positron emission tomography
• stroke
• discirculatory encephalopathy