Distribution of carotid atherosclerotic plaques and hemodynamic changes in carotid arteries among anterior circulation infarction patients

Objective To study the distribution of carotid atherosclerotic plaques and changes of blood stream dynamics in the carotid arteries in anterior circulation cerebral infarction patients.Methods A total of 70 anterior circulation cerebral infarction patients and 48 non-infarction patients were studied.Color Doppler ultrasonography was employed to measure carotid plaques in both groups,and maximum systolic velocity,end-diastolic velocity,acceleration time,pulsatility index and resistive index of the carotid arteries in the former group.Data were analyzed by t-test and chi-square test.Results Atherosclerotic plaques were commonly seen in the left carotid artery,especially in the bifurcation area.The positive rate of carotid plaques in the anterior circulation cerebral infarction patients was significantly higher than that of the non-infarction patients (P0 05).Among the anterior circulation infarction patients,there was no significant difference between the location of carotid plaques and the infarction side (P0.05),while there was significant difference in the end-diastolic velocity of the interior carotid artery between the infarction side and the non-infarction side (P0.05).Conclusion Atherosclerotic changes in the carotid arteries correlate with anterior circulation cerebral infarction.The causes and clinical significance of decrease in the end-diastolic velocity of the interior carotid arteries merit further study.