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INTRODUÇÃO: O Doppler Transcraniano funcional pode avaliar mudanças na velocidade do fluxo sanguíneo encefálico associadas a tarefas cognitivas e/ou sensitivo-motoras. Mede de maneira indireta a atividade metabólica de regiões cerebrais, segundo o princípio do acoplamento neurovascular. Os objetivos deste estudo foram: desenvolver um novo método de análise de Doppler transcraniano funcional para análise da lateralização hemisférica e verificar a capacidade deste novo método em diferenciar a lateralização hemisférica durante a execução de uma tarefa motora unimanual por indivíduos saudáveis. Adicionalmente, a lateralização hemisférica foi correlacionada com a preferência manual nestes indivíduos. MÉTODOS: Treze indivíduos saudáveis foram submetidos a um exame de Doppler transcraniano funcional durante uma prova de ativação motora manual (oposição de dedos). As sessões de Doppler transcraniano funcional foram realizadas com aparelho Doppler-Box Transcranial Doppler Unit. A prova manual compreendeu uma sequência de movimentos de oposição do primeiro e segundo dedos (thumb-tofinger opposition movement) realizado por uma mão e depois pela outra, em uma frequência de 1 movimento por segundo (1Hz) fornecida por um metrônomo digital. Durante a execução dos movimentos, foram insonadas simultaneamente as artérias cerebrais médias direita e esquerda. Para interpretação dos dados de Doppler transcraniano funcional desenvolvemos um novo programa de análise denominado FDAT, que tem vantagens de sofrer mínima influência de artefatos de ruído no sinal e de não assumir um formato pré-determinado da resposta hemodinâmica cerebral. Foi calculado um índice de lateralização (IL) como a diferença entre a velocidade relativa média da época de ativação e a velocidade relativa média da época de repouso para cada prova motora. Foi calculada a diferença dos valores de IL (ILe - ILd) provenientes da análise com cada método, obtendo-se um índice de ativação, próprio de cada sujeito. A comparação do índice de ativação durante a movimentação da mão direita, e durante a movimentação da mão esquerda, foi feita com o teste de Wilcoxon. A correlação entre o índice de ativação e a preferência manual avaliada pelo Inventário de Edimburgo foi avaliada pelo coeficiente rho de Spearman. RESULTADOS: Houve uma diferença estatisticamente significante entre o IA obtido durante a movimentação da mão direita ou da mão esquerda (p=0,02). Houve correlação estatisticamente significante entre a preferência manual e a assimetria na lateralização hemisférica identificada pelo Doppler Transcraniano funcional (rho = 0.85, p < 0.001). CONCLUSÕES: A análise do Doppler Transcraniano funcional mostrou-se viável pelo método proposto, capaz de avaliar o grau de lateralização hemisférica em uma prova de ativação motora, com boa correlação com a preferência manual. Trata-se de uma ferramenta prática, não invasiva e de baixo custo para a avaliação da lateralização hemisférica em determinadas provas funcionais / INTRODUCTION: Functional transcranial Doppler is a method for the assessment of changes in blood flow velocity of the middle cerebral artery. An asymmetric increase in blood flow velocity is a marker of hemispheric lateralization during unimanual motor task performance. The aims of this study were to propose a novel and efficient method for functional transcranial Doppler analysis based on cubic smoothing splines, and to verify the ability of this method to identify hemispheric lateralization during unimanual motor task performance in healthy subjects. In addition, hemispheric lateralization was correlated with handedness in these subjects. METHODS: Thirteen healthy subjects participated in the study. Blood flow velocities in the right and left middle cerebral arteries were recorded using functional transcranial Doppler during a finger-tapping task with either the right or left hand. Data were analyzed with a multi-step new method that included: baseline determination, raw data normalization, smoothing, lateralization Index calculation, definition of rest and motor task epochs and activation Index calculation. A positive activation Index reflects right-hemisphere lateralization and a negative activation index, left hemisphere lateralization. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference between the activation index obtained during right or left hand movements (p=0.02). Hand dominance was significantly correlated with asymmetry in hemispheric lateralization assessed with functional transcranial Doppler (rho = 0.85, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This novel method for functional transcranial Doppler analysis was capable to assess the hemispheric lateralization during motor task performance, and correlated well with handedness. It is a practical, non-invasive and unexpensive tool for the assessment of hemispheric lateralization.

This thesis investigated the role of CBF assessment in the management of stroke in children with sickle cell disease (SCD). It is divided into two parts. In the first part, a systematic review of CBF assessment using different imaging modalities in SCD children was designed. The prevalence of CBF abnormalities was found to be equal to or higher than those of structural MRI and transcranial Doppler (TCD) in SCD children who have not experienced stroke. Studies reviewed suggested CBF assessment in SCD could aid in addressing brain abnormalities at the tissue level. In the second part, the arterial spin labeling (ASL) technique was used to depict CBF abnormalities in SCD children. ASL demonstrated perfusion abnormalities that seem to remain invisible in TCD measurements; CBF interhemispheric asymmetries were associated with clinically silent infarctions with no corresponding flow velocity interhemispheric asymmetries assessed with TCD.

This thesis investigated the role of CBF assessment in the management of stroke in children with sickle cell disease (SCD). It is divided into two parts. In the first part, a systematic review of CBF assessment using different imaging modalities in SCD children was designed. The prevalence of CBF abnormalities was found to be equal to or higher than those of structural MRI and transcranial Doppler (TCD) in SCD children who have not experienced stroke. Studies reviewed suggested CBF assessment in SCD could aid in addressing brain abnormalities at the tissue level. In the second part, the arterial spin labeling (ASL) technique was used to depict CBF abnormalities in SCD children. ASL demonstrated perfusion abnormalities that seem to remain invisible in TCD measurements; CBF interhemispheric asymmetries were associated with clinically silent infarctions with no corresponding flow velocity interhemispheric asymmetries assessed with TCD.

Estimates of the capacity of visuospatial short-term memory (VSTM) have ranged from less than 1 item to 4 +/- 1 items. The purpose of the present study was to find the capacity of VSTM by looking at the contribution of the other working memory systems (phonological loop and central executive) and determine the factor that limits VSTM capacity (either number of objects or object complexity). In this study, the psychophysiological measure of cerebral blood flow velocity also was incorporated to determine whether changes in cerebral blood flow velocity were indicative of VSTM performance and capacity. Both performance measures and cerebral blood flow velocity indicate that capacity for random polygons is approximately one object. Complexity of the objects affected capacity, such that simple objects had higher capacities and lower cerebral blood flow velocity than complex objects. Other working memory systems were not found to have an effect on performance.

Changes in cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) to carbon dioxide (CO2) are reported in many neurological conditions. My aim was to validate a method for computerized prospective targeting of CO2 levels (RespiractTM) as a bedside tool for impaired CVR. I hypothesized that 1) The RespiractTM and TCD method can be used to detect impairment of CVR after SAH and that 2) CVR is impaired in SAH patients. In 18 SAH patients and 26 controls CVR index was calculated dividing the percentage change in middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity (MCAv) by the change in PETCO2. The absolute MCAv values were similar in both groups, but CVR was significantly different (hypercapnia: 0.044 ± 0.076 - controls; 0.014 ± 0.037 - SAH; p=0.0007). I showed that impaired CVR can be detected at the bedside using TCD and CO2 challenge with the RespiractTM, control of CO2 is precise and minimal changes are required.

Changes in cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) to carbon dioxide (CO2) are reported in many neurological conditions. My aim was to validate a method for computerized prospective targeting of CO2 levels (RespiractTM) as a bedside tool for impaired CVR. I hypothesized that 1) The RespiractTM and TCD method can be used to detect impairment of CVR after SAH and that 2) CVR is impaired in SAH patients. In 18 SAH patients and 26 controls CVR index was calculated dividing the percentage change in middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity (MCAv) by the change in PETCO2. The absolute MCAv values were similar in both groups, but CVR was significantly different (hypercapnia: 0.044 ± 0.076 - controls; 0.014 ± 0.037 - SAH; p=0.0007). I showed that impaired CVR can be detected at the bedside using TCD and CO2 challenge with the RespiractTM, control of CO2 is precise and minimal changes are required.

CONTENT 1. INTRODUCTION 7 2. PATIENTS AND METHODS 8 2.1. Patients 8 2.2. Control Group 8 2.3. Study Methods 9 2.4. Treatment of Patients 9 2.5. Outcome State 10 2.6. Statistical Data Analysis 10 3. RESULTS 10 3.1. Clinical Manifestations of Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations 10 3.2. Consciousness according to Glasgow Coma Scale 10 3.3. Distribution of Patients According to Spetzler-Martin Classification 11 3.4. Localization of Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations 11 3.5. The Localization of Intracranial Haemorrhages after the Rupture of Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations 11 3.6. Distribution of Patients with Intracerebral Haemorrhages after the Ruptures of Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations and without Haemorrhages according to Spetzler-Martin classification 12 3.7. The Relationships between Haemorrhagic Manifestation and Size of Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations 13 3.8. Transcranial Doppler Sonography Sensitivity and Specificity in Patients with Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations 13 3.9. Cerebral Haemodynamics in Patients with Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations and Healthy Controls 15 3.10. Cerebral Haemodynamics Changes in Patients with Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations before and after the Surgery 16 3.11. Transcranial Doppler evaluation of Different Localizations Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations 18 3.12. Cerebral Haemodynamics in Patients with Intracerebral Haematomas after Ruptures of Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations 19 3.13. Cerebral... [to full text]

Evidence suggests that cerebral blood flow patterns accompanying a mental activity are retained in many locked-in patients. Thus, real-time monitoring with functional transcranial Doppler (TCD) together with a specific mental task could control a brain-computer interface (BCI), thereby providing self-initiated interaction. The objective of this study was to create an automatic detection algorithm to differentiate hemodynamic responses coincident with one's performance of verbal fluency (VF) versus counting tasks. We recruited 10 healthy adults who each silently performed up to 30 VF tasks and counted between each. Both middle cerebral arteries were simultaneously imaged using TCD. Linear Discriminant Analyses (LDA) successfully differentiated between VF and both prior and post counting tasks. For every participant, LDA achieved the 70% classification accuracy sufficient for BCIs. Results demonstrate automatic detection of a VF task by TCD and warrant further investigation of TCD as a BCI.