Ultrasound study of the cranial venous system in the human new-born infant and the adult.

A pulsed doppler ultrasound technique has been used to measure changes in blood velocities in the superior sagittal sinus, the jugular veins and intracranial and extracranial arteries in 13 neonates, and in the jugular veins and an extracranial artery in 13 adults, during unilateral and bilateral jugular venous compressions. The results have enabled us to determine how the subject under examination functionally uses his cranial venous drainage system in the resting state, and whether or not he can shunt obstructed venous flow through other cranial venous channels. We have found great variability between the subjects. In the resting situation the range of possibilities from total dependence on one jugular vein alone to usage of both jugular veins and the vertebral veins exists. Shunting of blood on jugular compression from either or both jugular veins to the vertebral veins may occur, and contralateral shunting between the jugular veins may be possible in both directions, in one direction or not at all.