engleski

Vertebral Artery Hypoplasia In Patients With Different Neurological Diseases

Introduction: Vertebral arteries (VA) are responsible for blood supply of posterior parts of the brain. Vertebral artery hypoplasia (VAH) is an inborn condition that may have a role in various neurological diseases. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate incidence of VAH in neurological diseases. Patients and methods: Data of patients hospitalized at our department during 2002 who had Doppler ultrasound diagnostic evaluation of VA were analyzed. VAs were measured in V2 segment, between vertebrae C6-C5. Criteria for VAH were: lumen diameter 2 mm in C6-C5 segment, blood flow velocity 0.35m/s, and higher resistance pattern, while criteria for nonnal VA (NVA) were: lumen diameter 2-4mm, blood flow velocity 0.35-0.70m/s, and normal resistance pattern. Patients included in the study were discharged with 29 diagnoses. Diagnoses were categorized into 6 groups: cerebrovascular diseases, stroke, epilepsy, headaches, other neurological diseases, and other non-neurological diseases. Results: 186 patients had Doppler ultrasound of VA: 78 patients (35 males and 43 females) had VAH, while l08 patients (45 males and 63 females) had NVA. There were 62 patients with cerebrovascular diseases, 68 patients with stroke, 10 patients with epilepsy, 16 patients with headaches, 18 patients with other neurological diseases, and 33 patients with other non-neurological diseases. Chi-square test did not show statistically significant difference in incidence of VAH and NVA in all six groups. Conclusion: This study showed that VAH could play an important role in various neurological disorders. We believe a similar study, performed on a larger number of subjects could provide us with some interesting, more significant results.

Vertebral Artery Hypoplasia; diagnostics; neurological diseases

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