Assessment of carotid artery ultrasonography in the presence of an acoustic shadow artifact.

Background: B-mode and Color Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS) are the methods of choice for screening and determining the degree of Carotid artery stenosis. The evaluation of stenosis with calcification may be hampered by a common CDUS artifact known as acoustic shadow (AS). Our objective was to assess the change in reliability of CDUS readings in the presence of an AS artifact.

Extra-cranial venous flow in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Introduction: Recently, a chronic state of impaired venous drainage from the central nervous system, termed chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) was claimed to be a pathologic condition exclusively seen in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), suggesting that cerebral venous congestion plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of MS. This hypothesis has gained enormous attention among patients and physicians but has been questioned since.

Methods: Twenty seven patients with MS and 32 healthy controls underwent color extra cranial Doppler exam aimed to detect four parameters of abnormal venous flow: no Doppler-detected flow in the IJV or vertebral veins (VV), reflux in the internal jugular veins (IJVs), venous flow stenosis in the IJVz (cross sectional area <0.

Modified cold pressor test by cold application to the foot after spinal cord injury: suggestion of hemodynamic control by the spinal cord.

Objective: Study hemodynamic responses to cold application to the foot (CAF) to explore the autonomic cardiovascular control by the spinal cord.

Design: Controlled experimental study. Hemodynamic variables were measured or calculated for 13 healthy subjects, 10 patients with traumatic T4-T6 paraplegia, and 11 patients with traumatic C4-C7 tetraplegia.

Cold pressor test in tetraplegia and paraplegia suggests an independent role of the thoracic spinal cord in the hemodynamic responses to cold.

Background: Cold application to the hand (CAH) is associated in healthy people with increase in heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP).

Objective: To study hemodynamic responses to CAH in humans following spinal cord injuries of various levels, and examine the effect of spinal cord integrity on the cold pressor response.

Design: An experimental controlled study.

Hemodynamic effects of liquid food ingestion in mid-thoracic paraplegia: is supine postprandial hypotension related to thoracic spinal cord damage?

Background: Postprandial hypotension (PPH) appears in various conditions with autonomic failure and was symptomatic in a patient with thoracic paraplegia, but was not remarkable in patients with tetraplegia.

Objective: To determine whether the pathology causing PPH may include a thoracic but not a cervical spinal cord lesion (SCL).

Design: An experimental controlled study.