Age-related changes in intracranial artery velocity measured by transcranial Doppler sonography in normotensive, hypertensive and diabetic patients

Abstract

We measured mean blood flow velocity (MFV) and Fourier pulsatility index (PI) of the M1 portion of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) by transcranial Doppler mapping technique (2 MHz, Trans-scan, EME Co., Ltd.). The correlations between these parameters and arteriosclerotic risk factors such as aging, hypertension and diabetes mellitus were examined. Healthy volunteers as well as patients suffering from hypertension and diabetes mellitus were studied. A total of 59 persons (85 MCAs) consisting of 30 males (mean age 54.4, 24-81 years) and 29 females (mean age 54.8, 20-75 years) were enrolled in this study. Some hypertensive or diabetic subjects had previous cerebrovascular disease, therefore cases who had only minor stroke or asymptomatic infarction without significant lesions in carotid artery system were included. After excluding brain embolism, these subjects were divided into three groups as normotensive/non diabetic group (NT/non DM), hypertensive group (HT) and diabetic group (DM). In each group, MFV decreased with aging, being more evident in the HT and DM groups than in the NT/non DM group. Fourier PI also showed a significant increase with aging, and the correlation was stronger than that between MFV and age. Moreover, these trends of age-Fourier PI relationship were more highly significant in HT and DM groups than NT/non DM group. In cases with HT or DM, age-related arterial changes appeared to be more severe than in those without. Fourier PI seemed valuable for detecting arterial lesions with aging, HT and DM.