Arterial and Venous Cerebral Blood Flow Velocities in Healthy Volunteers

Karthikka Chandrapatham; Danilo Cardim; Francesco Corradi; Mypinder Sekhon; Donald Griesdale; Marek Czosnyka; Chiara Robba

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-59436-7_27

Arterial and Venous Cerebral Blood Flow Velocities in Healthy Volunteers

Acta Neurochir Suppl. 2021:131:131-134. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-59436-7_27.

Authors

Karthikka Chandrapatham^#¹, Danilo Cardim^#^{2

3

4}, Francesco Corradi⁵, Mypinder Sekhon⁶, Donald Griesdale^{6

7

8}, Marek Czosnyka^{2

9}, Chiara Robba^{2

10}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgical Sciences and Integrated Diagnostics, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy. karthi91@hotmail.it.
² Brain Physics Laboratory, Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
³ Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, Dallas, TX, USA.
⁴ Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
⁵ University of Pisa, Florence, Italy.
⁶ Division of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Vancouver General Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁷ Department of Anaesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Vancouver General Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁸ Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁹ Institute of Electronic Systems, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland.
¹⁰ Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, San Martino Policlinico Hospital, IRCCS for Oncology, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 33839833
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-59436-7_27

Abstract

Transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) enables assessment of brain hemodynamics through insonation of cerebral arteries and veins. Few studies have investigated whether the normal ranges of flow velocities in both arterial and venous compartments may be affected by age and sex.The purpose of this study was to determine the normal blood flow velocities across different sex and age subgroups in a cohort of healthy volunteers by studying the middle cerebral arteries (MCAs) and the straight sinus (SS).A total of 122 healthy volunteers undergoing preanesthetic assessment were recruited at Galliera Hospital in Genoa, Italy. The cohort was stratified for sex (males and females) and for age (18-44 years, 45-64 years, and ≥65 years). Data on systolic, diastolic, and mean flow velocities (FVs, FVd, and FVm, respectively) in the MCA and peak venous flow velocity in the SS (FVVs) were collected from each volunteer.The arterial FVs and FVm were significantly higher in males than in females; FVs, FVm, FVd, and FVVs increased across the age spectrum, especially in the elderly female population.Our findings suggest that there are differences in cerebrovascular flow velocities due to age and sex, which may be correlated to hormonal variations during the lifespan.

Keywords: Cerebral blood flow; Healthy volunteers; Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Blood Flow Velocity
Cerebral Arteries / diagnostic imaging
Cerebrovascular Circulation*
Female
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Italy
Male
Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial
Young Adult