Relationship between carotid stucture abnormality and ischemic cerebrovascular events and cerebrovascular risk factors

Objective To evaluate whether extracranial carotid structure abnormality ( carotid atherosclerosis) measured by duplex ultrasonography is related to cerebrovascular risk factors and ischemic cerebrovascular events.Methods Sonographic assessment of the extracranial carotid atherosclerosis(AS) was performed by using a duplex ultrasound system . 101 cerebral infarction patients , 41 transient ischemic attack and 82 controls subjects without cerebrovascular diseases were imaged .Carotid atherosclerosis, common carotid artery intimal-medial thickess (IMT) , narrowing of the extracranial carotid arteries were assessed by 7.5-MHZ duplex ultrasonography.Comparison analysis were performed by using a SPSS 10.0 statistical package.Results The prevalence of carotid atheroscalerosis in C1 group, TIA group and control subjects were 58.41%, 56.09% and 29.26% respectively. The rate of AS in patients with cerebral infarction and TIA are significantly higher than control group (P0.01). The incidence of carotid artery of moderate or severe stenosis (50%) in CI group,TIA group and control subjects were 15.84%, 14.63% and 3.65% respectively. It is significantly higher in CI group and TIA group than control subjects (P0.05). IMT thickenings were significantly higher in CI group and TIA group versus control subjects (P0.05).Correlation analysis showed that age ,RI, fibrinogen,LDLwere associated with the maximum IMT. Logestic regression analysis identified 3 significant variables that accounted for the carotid atherosclerosis. They were hypertension , plasma endothelin (ET ) and smoking.Conclusion B-mode ultrasound detected carotid artery lesions(CALs)and guide the decision of whether to perform carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid artery stenting (CAS) in selected patient categories. [