Pediatric intracranial vascular malformations: evaluation of treatment results with color Doppler US. Work in progress.

To determine the value of color Doppler ultrasound (US) in the preoperative assessment and evaluation of treatment results in children with intracranial vascular malformations (VMs), the authors performed 36 color Doppler US studies in nine children who underwent endovascular embolization. Color flow imaging with spectral waveform analysis of feeding arteries, nidus, draining veins, and uninvolved cranial vasculature was performed, and correlation was made with other imaging findings. In most VMs, color Doppler US enabled the authors to map the lesion completely. Hemodynamic changes after embolization included improvement in blood supply to uninvolved portions of the brain and increase in caliber and flow of feeding vessels that were not occluded during embolization. Serial volume flow measurements were performed with Doppler US in major extracranial arteries. Success of embolization was indicated by substantial decrease of total carotid artery flow. Color Doppler US is a noninvasive modality that adds important imaging and hemodynamic data to those provided by angiography.