Cerebral hemodynamics in hypertensive patients compared with normotensive volunteers. A transcranial Doppler study.

The present study was designed to examine cerebral hemodynamics in early and chronic stages of hypertension using transcranial Doppler sonography.Our study population consisted of 16 chronic hypertensive patients with chronic and small deep brain infarction, 10 young early-stage hypertensive subjects, and 16 young normotensive healthy volunteers. Using three-dimensional mapping techniques, we identified the M1 portion of the middle cerebral arteries and measured mean blood flow velocity, and we calculated the Gosling pulsatility index (PI), Fourier PI of the first harmonic (Fourier PI1), and cerebrovascular resistance.Mean blood flow velocity in the young hypertensive group was statistically higher (71.7 +/- 11.7 cm/s [mean +/- SD]) than among chronic hypertensive subjects (56.9 +/- 21.4 cm/s, P < .01) and normotensive subjects (63.2 +/- 11.8 cm/s, P < .05). Gosling PI presented a mirror image of mean blood flow velocity in both hypertensive and normotensive subjects. Chronic hypertensive subjects showed ...