The NEUROSONOLOGY AND CEREBRAL HAEMODYNAMICS department was set up in January 2003 with the aim of introducing TRANSCRANIAL DOPPLER SONOGRAPHY at all of the Hospiten Group?s hospital centres. TDS is a non-invasive ultrasound technique used in studying the speed of flow in the main intracranial arteries, showing amongst its initial indications:

•        Urgent: diagnosis and monitoring in acute cerebrovascular illnesses (ictus) and screening for intracranial hypertension.
•        Scheduled: Monitoring of the ictus, assessment of cerebrovascular risk (cardiopathic, hypertensive, nephropathic, diabetic, dyslipemic, etc), cephalic examination, assessment of dementia, interoperative monitoring in cases cardiovascular surgery.

TDS is a simple, cheap, high-quality technique with many investigative possibilities which have been growing since its first appearance in the 1980s; it comes highly recommended by international agencies and scientific societies. TDS was not offered previously in the private sector in the Canary Islands, nor did the public sector systematically offer it in its range of hospital services.