Color Doppler flow imaging combined with breathing-holding test for evaluation of cerebrovascular reverse in parients with vertebral artery hypoplasia

WAN Jinping; LI Hongjian; XIA Fei

Abstract：Objective To explore the vertebral artery reverse capacity in parients with vertebral artery hypoplasia ( VAH) useing high frequency color doppler flow imaging ( CDFI) combined with breath-holding test.Methods 32 patients with VAH and 43 healthy controls confirmed by MRA were selected in this study .Before and after breathing ,vertebral artery diameter ( D) , peak systolic velocity (Vs), diastolic velocity (Vd), the average blood flow velocity (Vm), pulsatility index (PI) and resistance index (RI) were measured.The change rate of blood flow volume of vertebral artery and breath-holding index (BHI) were calcu-lated.The changes in blood flow of posterior circulation between VAH and control groups were compared and the correlation be -tween diameter of dysplasia side and BHI were analyzed .Results There was no significant difference in vertebral artery diameter before and after breath-holding ( P >0.05), blood flow velocity was incresed, PI and RI were decreased ( P <0.05).The change rate of hemodynamic parameters in the dysplasia side was lower than the contralateral side and control groups ( P <0.05), the change rate of posterior circulation flow in patients with VAH was lower than the normal population ( P <0.05);The dysplasia side of the vertebral artery diameter and BHI were positively correlated ( r =0.795).Conclusion Vertebral artery re-verse in patients with VAH is lower than the normal population , and correlated with diameter of dysplasia side of the vertebral ar-tery positively .When combined with other risk factors that can lead to the decrease in cerebral blood flow , patients with VAH may be more likely to have posterior circulation ischemia ( PCI) .