Clinical Relevance of Microembolus Detection

One domain of neurovascular ultrasound not competing with any other diagnostic technique is the evaluation of microemboli in the large basal cerebral arteries, commonly the medial cerebral artery (MCA). Microembolic signals (MES) can represent both corpuscular microemboli (cholesterol crystals, fibrin thrombi, platelet thrombi, necrotic debris from plaques, lipid droplets, calcified particles etc.) or, alternatively, gaseous emboli like artificially inserted air, microcavitation at mechanical heart valves, diagnostic compounds containing gaseous microbubbles and spontaneous gaseous bubbles during compression sic…