ABNORMAL WAVEFORMS IN THE CEREBRAL VESSELS

The middle cerebral artery (MCA) is the vessel that is best assessed:

• Easy to identify.
• High reproducibility.
• Can be studied at an angle of 0° between the ultrasound beam and direction of blood flow.
• Provides information on the brain sparing effect.

1. Normal values.

2. Brain sparing effect.

3. Factors affecting the MCA indices.

4. Causes of a low MCA pulsatility index.

5. Causes of a high MCA pulsatility index.

6. Cerebral / Umbilical artery ratio.