Continuous monitoring of middle cerebral artery recanalization with transcranial color-coded sonography and Levovist.

Background and purpose: Treatment of acute ischemic stroke with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) is relatively ineffective in patients with large vessel occlusion. Numerous experimental studies have demonstrated that ultrasound (US) can accelerate enzymatic fibrinolysis and acceleration of lysis by US is enhanced in the presence of microbubbles used as echo-contrast agents. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of continuous monitoring of middle cerebral artery (MCA) recanalization using transcranial color-coded sonography (TCCS) and intravenously administered microbubbles.