[Ultrasonic blood flow measurement in stenoses and occlusions of the internal carotid artery].

Blood flow in the common carotid artery as measured by means of the QFM system of Furuhata in 100 patients with angiographically proven obstructive or occlusive lesions of the internal carotid or middle cerebral artery, was compared with the normal blood flow range in healthy persons of 41 to 70 years of age. Findings were considered to be pathological in 72% of the patient pool. This figure was based on one or more of the standard-value criteria, namely, unilateral flow, bilateral flow, and percentage of the difference between both sides. Pathological findings were thus obtained in 100 per cent of the bilateral and in 90 per cent of the unilateral occlusions, in 53 per cent of the bilateral and in 52 per cent of the unilateral stenoses of the internal carotid artery. In occlusions of the internal carotid artery, no significant correlation between blood flow in the common carotid artery and the presence of an ophthalmic collateral extending beyond the carotid siphon could be established. However, there was a correlation with the diameter of the external carotid artery as well as to the sum total of the cross-sectional areas of its main branches. There was no significant correlation between common carotid blood flow and linear luminar narrowing in stenoses of the internal carotid artery if contralateral pathology was disregarded. Compared with normal flow (7,6 +/- 1,4 ml/sec), the mean flow was reduced in all unilateral stenoses of more than 30 per cent, whereas it was increased in stenoses of less than 30 per cent associated with a contralateral stenosis, and in stenoses of less than 70 per cent associated with a contralateral occlusion of the internal carotid artery.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)