Heart attacks or strokes are being a major cause for death in today’s world which is sudden most of the times without any signs or symptoms. It, thus, becomes very important for us to take care of our health and have a thorough medical check up from time to time to avoid any such conditions. Carotid Doppler is not a painful procedure at all and is an ultrasound scan that is carried out with the help of sound waves. Its primary function is to find out the amount of blood that is being supplied to the brain by the carotid arteries that primarily shoulder the responsibility of carrying blood to the brain. These arteries are located on either side of the neck and are two very important arteries that can become narrow because of blockages. Due to this the risk of getting a stroke increases tremendously. The arteries usually narrow down due to atherosclerosis, diabetes and many other reasons. The test is conducted to determine how prone a person is to getting a stroke. The risk increases if the person has had previous strokes. The entire procedure will not take more than 20 minutes where the person conducting the scan will apply a gel on your neck and then move a sensor around the area where the images are displayed simultaneously on a screen.
An MR angiogram is a technique that does not make use of the ionizing radiation that is x-rays but uses radio waves and very strong magnetic fields to display close images on a computer screen. You will be asked to lie down on the table that moves and slides inside the MRI unit. This unit is covered with a circular magnet and the table takes you exactly in the middle of the magnet. You need to remain absolutely still while the images are being recorded. A contrast material may sometimes be used to for the scan where it is inserted into the vein.
There is a chance that the carotid Doppler results are more reliable especially if done by a very experienced person. Moreover, it is said that the results derived from an MRI angiogram may not be very effective because the images that are obtained of majority of the blood vessels are not clear. On the other hand, instead of an MR angiogram, a CT angiogram is recommended as that is supposed to be the best method
Submitted by N S on April 7, 2010 at 11:19