Effectiveness of Mastoid Process Percussion for Identification of the Vertebral Artery Ostium on Doppler Studies

摘要

The pretransverse or first segment of the vertebral artery may be confused with adjacent branches of the proximal subclavian artery during Doppler assessment. This study investigated the effectiveness of mastoid process percussion, the “mastoid tap” maneuver, for identification of the vertebral artery ostium.