[Cerebral HITS: diagnosis, clinical relevance, outlook]. / Hits cérébraux: diagnostic, pertinence clinique, perspectives.

ABSTRACT

After 6 years of experience, Spencer and colleagues described the detection of embolus signals as height intensity transient signals (HITS) within Doppler flow spectrum from intracranial vessels. These signals (gaseous or materials) are recorded in many situations such as cardiac prosthetic valves, atrial fibrillation, carotid stenosis, carotid surgery or angioplasty. The clinical value is not well known neurological impairment associated with brain lesions is described in case of cardiac prosthetic valves. The observation of HITS in carotid stenosis is associated with an increased risk of stroke. The detection of HITS offers a new orientation in studying stroke but some technical and/or clinical difficulties have to be solved.