Association between Carotid Artery Atherosclerosis and Cerebral Infarction in the Elderly

Objective To investigate the association between cerebral infarction and carotid artery atherosclerosis by using the intima-media thickness as the indicator.Methods Using B-mode ultrasonography, the intima-media thickness of the carotid artery was measured on 65 patients with cerebral infracting. Another 65 healthy subjects were used as control.Results The intima-media thickness was greater at common carotid artery. The intima-media thickness of the cerebral infract group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P0.001). Atherosclerotic plaques were found mostly in the carotid bifurcation and cerebral infarction segments.Carotid atherosclerosis was more prevalent in cerebral infarction patients as compared with control(P0.001).Plaque index was higher in the cerebral infarction group as compared with normal subjects(P0.01).Conclusion Severity of carotid atherosclerosis is positively correlated with the incidence of cerebral infarction,indicating that much attention should be paid to clinical nursing.