Digital subtraction angiography in patients with cerebral ischaemic attacks and normal continuous wave Doppler studies.

The cervico-cranial arteries were studied using digital subtraction angiography in 50 patients with reversible cerebral ischaemic attacks and normal continuous wave Doppler examination. Digital subtraction angiography was able to visualise the arteries satisfactorily in 45 patients (90%), and revealed minor arterial abnormalities in 12 patients (24%). However, neither occlusions nor stenoses greater than 50% of the diameter of the vessel lumen were found. Although digital subtraction angiography is more accurate than continuous wave Doppler examination in detecting arterial lesions, it did not provide alternative therapeutic choices in any of these patients.