2006•DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals)Requires access
Extracranial cerebral arterial atherosclerosis in Iranian patients suffering ischemic strokes
Seyed Ali Mousavi, Majid Ghasemi, Thomas Hosseini, Amin Mehrabi
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: To determine the distribution and severity of extracranial carotid arterial atherosclerosis in Iranian patients with ischemic stroke. METHODS: 328 patients with ischemic stroke were included in this study. Doppler ultrasound was used for evaluation of atherosclerosis in extracranial carotid arteries. The NASCET criteria were used to measure carotid stenosis. RESULTS: Ninety of 328 patients (27.4%) were found to have atherosclerotic plaques; 40 of these patients were women and 50 were men. Sixty-eight patients (20.7%) had artery stenosis <50%, 13 patients (3.95%) had 50-70 % artery stenosis and 6 (1.8%) had >70% artery stenosis. CONCLUSIONS: Extracranial atherosclerosis is not rare in Iranian patients with ischemic stroke, but most carotid artery lesions were plaques with <50% stenosis. KEY WORDS: Atherosclerosis, ischemic stroke, carotid stenosis.