Moreover, in this study flow assessments were performed at rest and not during deep inspiration [17]. The documentation of a condition near to the “blocked” flow of the criterion 4 is provided in another pathological conditions, transient global amnesia, as a segmental IJV Selleckchem BMN673 absence of flow with a reversed flow direction in IJV branches [12] and [13]. In Fig. 4, an

example of this condition is shown in a patient with transient global amnesia. It is notable that the majority of so-called blocks are strictly positional conditions, often reversed by the ipsi- or contralateral tilting of the neck. For this reason in the present protocol, special attention was paid for avoiding to define a “blocked” flow in IJV if this condition was reversed by a minimal neck rotation. It is also interesting to note that the situation described in Fig. 2 may gain two points, if the absence of flow is present in supine and upright positions, 1 for the criterion 3 and 1 for the criterion 4. A global hemodynamics of the venous system rather than single segment evaluation is the aim; therefore a useful and validated

tool is the calculation of the arterial blood flow and venous blood flow, as used in literature for distinguishing the cerebral drainage pattern in single subjects, because of ABT-199 price the wide variability of the contribution of jugular, vertebral routes of both sides and extrajugular–extravertebral routes. For this protocol the blood flow is calculated in both supine and standing position for IJV and VV for the outflow and for ICA and VA for the inflow (only in the supine position), by applying the formula BF = CSA × TAV [4], [16] and [17]. The definition of this criterion is that CSA of IJV in upright position is larger than the one in supine position, being the normal condition the

opposite one. Some authors questioned about a mistake for this criterion [4] and [7] and anyway a difference between right and left IJV in supine and upright position has been described in patients with transient global amnesia, because Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II of the compression of the left brachiocephalic vein in the thoracic outlet [11]. This criterion has been proposed by Zamboni et al. [1] and [2] as a marker of the loss of venous compliance. In this protocol, considering the doubts expressed from other authors [4] and [7] also the deviation from the normal response to breath, with an increasing CSA during the inspirium phase and a decreasing CSA during the expirium phase, will be signaled, in order to better understand the global hemodynamic response.