CCSVI and MS: a statement from the European Society of neurosonology and cerebral hemodynamics.

To systematically review the ultrasonographic criteria proposed for the diagnosis of chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI). The authors analyzed the five ultrasonographic criteria, four extracranial and one intracranial, suggested for the diagnosis of CCSVI in multiple sclerosis (MS), together with the references from which these criteria were derived and the main studies that explored the physiology of cerebrospinal drainage. The proposed CCSVI criteria are questionable due to both methodological and technical errors: criteria 1 and 3 are based on a scientifically incorrect application of data obtained in a different setting; criteria 2 and 4 have never been validated before; criterion 2 is technically incorrect; criteria 3 and 5 are susceptible to so many external factors that it is difficult to state whether the data collected are pathological or a variation from the normal.

[Diagnostic potential of phonoangiography of extracranial arteries].

Phonoangiography (PAG) was applied to study the extracranial parts of cerebral blood vessels in 16 symptom-free healthy individuals and 92 patients with cerebrovascular disorders. The conductance of cardiac tones to the cerebral arteries was assessed in comparison between PAG and phonocardiography. Correlations were found between the arterial wall elasticity, luminal changes and heart sounds conduction.