Chlamydia pneumoniae and symptomatic carotid atherosclerotic plaque: a prospective study.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the possible link between symptomatic carotid atherosclerotic plaque and Chlamydia pneumoniae. BACKGROUND Recently, several studies have demonstrated that there may be a possible link between Chlamydia pneumonia and carotid atherosclerosis, however the real role of Chlamydia pneumoniae is not completely understood. METHOD This is a prospective study with a total of 52 patients analyzed. All patients had been submitted to endarterectomy, and had suffered thrombotic ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack up to 60 days prior to the surgery. Every patient presented carotid stenosis over 70%. The plaque was removed during the surgery and the laboratory exams were immediately done. Evaluation of Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA was done using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS The PCR analyses of all 52 patients were negative for Chlamydia pneumoniae. CONCLUSION These initial results do not show a relationship between Chlamydia pneumoniae and symptomatic carotid atherosclerotic plaque.