Nonatherosclerotic disease of the cervical arteries: role of ultrasonography for diagnosis.

On the basis of morphological and hemodynamic criteria, color-coded duplex sonography enables diagnostic evaluation of non-atheromatous lesions of the cervical arteries. Ultrasonography is the method of first choice for Takayasu's arteritis, radiation angiopathy, and common carotid artery dissections. Internal carotid and vertebral artery dissections are detected in up to 95% and 79%, respectively; in some of these cases, however, ultrasonography delivers unspecific findings so that dissections can only be confirmed when typical clinical symptoms are present, too. Detection of vasospasms of the cranial arteries is extremely difficult, on account of their tendency for rapid regression; however, sonography is in principle a suitable method. In cases of fibromuscular dysplasia ultrasound has furnished less positive results on account of the unfavourable localisation for duplex sonography. As the disease has a relatively good prognosis, only symptomatic cases need to be detected. On the whole, sonography is a suitable method for the diagnosis of nonatherosclerotic diseases of the cervical arteries.