© American Roentgen Ray Society Noninvasive Testing for Carotid Artery Stenosis:

Oculoplethysmography-carotid phonoangiography and periorbital directional Dop-pler sonography are two techniques widely used in the noninvasive evaluation of possible carotid artery disease. Recent advances with sonographic Doppler devices now permit measurement of blood velocities in the extracranial carotid arteries by direct scanning with a color coded Doppler imaging system. A prospective study involving 216 patients being evaluated for possible carotid insufficiency was carried out to compare the results obtained with these three methods. With stenosis 65 % or greater at angiography, the accuracy of the Doppler imaging system was 94%, that of oculoplethysmography-carotid phonoangiography was 84%, and that of periorbital directional Doppler sonography was 80%. These results demonstrate that direct Dop-pler examination of the carotid bifurcation is superior to either of the other two techniques for the detection of carotid artery stenosis. Over the past decade, numerous methods have been developed for noninva-sively evaluating patients thought to be at risk for stroke. Several widely used techniques, including oculoplethysmography and periorbital directional Dopple