“What is a carotid doppler ultrasound?”

Carotid ultrasound is done typically to look for carotid artery abnormalities such as atherosclerosis (calcium buildup) or narrowing.

Carotid Doppler Ultrasound, sometimes referred to as a Carotid Duplex examination, uses the same basic techniques that are used to look at babies in the womb, a smooth probe is used with a gel and moved over the skin on your neck to view the carotid artery below. It is designed to measure the blood flow and to look for narrowing by plaque that can be associated with strokes. At 38 years of age it would be unusual for you to have significant atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries in this location, unless you have significant risk factors - like hyperlipidemia, smoking, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia or a family history of early arterial disease.

Thank you for the question. A carotid Doppler is a simple non invasive test that uses ultrasound technology to evaluate, in your case, the vascular structure of the carotid artery (which is the artery that carries blood to your brain). The test will give you the following information: A) size and diameter for the vessel; B) if there is evidence of narrowing due to plaque or evidence of tears in the layers of the artery or thickness of the muscular walls that can lead to narrowing (called fibromuscular dysplasia). These are the main purposes of a carotid Doppler study.
Hope this helps.