Comparison of the clinical value of transcranial Doppler ultrasound and computed tomography angiography for diagnosing ischemic cerebrovascular disease

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical value of transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound and computed tomography angiography (CTA) for diagnosing ischemic cerebrovascular disease. METHODS: A retrospective clinical study was conducted in 142 patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease who were initially diagnosed by digital subtraction angiography. Under the single-blind condition, the patients were diagnosed by using TCD ultrasound and CTA independently. The accuracy of these two methods was compared. RESULTS: The accuracy of diagnosing bilateral middle cerebral artery, bilateral vertebral artery and bilateral internal carotid artery lesions with a TCD examination was significantly higher than that with a CTA examination. There were no significant differences in the accuracy of diagnosing bilateral anterior cerebral artery, bilateral posterior cerebral artery or basilar artery lesions between TCD ultrasound and CTA. The accuracy of diagnosing all cerebral arterial ischemic lesions was significantly higher with a TCD examination (87.39%) than with a CTA examination (69.75%). The accuracy of diagnosing all cerebral arteries that cause ischemic encephalopathy (cerebrovascular + cervical blood vessels) was significantly higher with a TCD examination (88.03%) than with a CTA examination (69.01%). CONCLUSIONS: TCD ultrasound has several advantages over CTA. Therefore, TCD ultrasound is better for diagnosing ischemic encephalopathy than CTA.