Spontaneous echo-contrast of the internal jugular vein at echodoppler examination: Clinical and prognostic significance

Objective: To investigate spontaneous echocontrast (SEC), which is a smoke-like appearance of a blood vessel. The lumen of the vessel appears to be hyperechogenic during the ultrasonographic exploration in real time. Method: This study correlates the frequency of this echotomographic finding in the internal jugular vein in various groups of patients with different pathologies of the carotid arteries from a retrospective analysis of 7000 echo-Doppler studies. Results: The data show that SEC of the internal jugular vein is significantly more frequent in patients with duplex scanning positive for atherosclerotic pathologies of the carotid arteries than in individuals with negative echo-Doppler examination; in addition, a clearly higher incidence was noticed in the subgroups with echotomographic signs of diffuse vascular carotid involvement and with high-grade stenoses (more than 50%) or occlusions. The origin and clinical significance of SEC of the internal jugular vein are briefly discussed. Conclusion: The authors suggest a correlation in further studies of presence of SEC and grade of echogenicity with diameter and flow velocity rate of the jugular vein and other blood parameters.