Intraoperative cerebral angiosonography with ultrasound contrast agents: how I do it.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative vessel visualization is highly desirable, especially when the target is related to or close to main vessels, such as in the skull base and vascular surgery. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is an imaging technique that allows visualization of tissue perfusion and vascularization through the infusion of purely intravascular ultrasound contrast agents (UCA). METHODS: After cerebral scanning with B-mode ultrasound (US) CEUS is performed, UCA are injected and insonated with low mechanical index US. A UCA-specific harmonic signal is transduced using a contrast-specific algorithm to obtain real-time angiosonography (ASG). CONCLUSIONS: Real-time intraoperative ASG is a rapid, reliable, repeatable method for vessel visualization and evaluation of tissue perfusion.