Robotic-assisted transcranial Doppler (raTCD) improves the detection of right-to-left shunt (RLS) in patients with suspected stroke, researchers have shown.
RLS is a known risk factor for stroke. Standard techniques for detecting RLS each have limitations: transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) has low sensitivity for RLS, transesophageal echocardiography is invasive, and TCD has high sensitivity and specificity but requires an experienced operator, which is not always available.