Ultrasound assessment of vertebral venous blood flow in dystonic and stagnant-hypoxic variants of venous discirculation

The aim of the study was to evaluate the parameters of blood flow in the vertebral veins from the level of the upper part of the neck to the venous entry and to compare values of these indicators in patients with the dystonic and stagnant-hypoxic forms of venous discirculation. Color duplex scanning of the vertebral veins was performed in 70 volunteers without symptoms of venous discirculation, 64 patients with cerebral concussion, and 111 patients with cervical spondylosis. The diameter and the linear blood flow velocity in the vertebral vein were the lowest in the second segment, compared with the first segment and the venous entry. In the presence of venous discirculation, regardless of its form, the outflow through the right vertebral vein prevailed. Stagnant-hypoxic form of the venous discirculation was characterized with increased venous blood flow through the vertebral veins of the lower part of the neck. Dystonic variant of the discirculation was characterized with the reduction of the Doppler spectrum phases in the second segment and the dilatation of both vertebral veins in the first segment.