BACKGROUND We sought to evaluate the routine echo-Doppler screening of carotid artery stenosis in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. METHODS A total of 2179 consecutive patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting alone or with other cardiac surgery at Tehran Heart Center, Tehran-Iran, between January 2005 and January 2006 were included in this retrospective study....

BACKGROUND Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease. DESIGN We have evaluated the degree of erythrocyte aggregation (EA) as a microinflammatory biomarker in a cohort of hospital-based, neurologically asymptomatic outpatients. METHODS The degree of EA and carotid artery stenosis was evaluated in 510 individuals by using a simple slide test and image analysis. RESULTS Four hundred ...

OBJECTIVE Specific guidelines for management of cerebrovascular risk in women are currently lacking. This study aims to provide a consensus expert opinion to help make clinical decisions in women with carotid stenosis. METHODS Proposals for the use of carotid endarterectomy (CEA), carotid stenting (CAS), and medical therapy for stroke prevention in women with carotid stenosis were provided by...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Stroke Prevention by Aggressive Reduction in Cholesterol Levels (SPARCL) trial found that treatment with atorvastatin 80 mg per day reduced the risk of stroke and cardiovascular events in patients with a recent transient ischemic attack (TIA) or stroke. We hypothesized this benefit would be greatest in the subgroup of patients with carotid stenosis. METHODS The SPAR...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate a simplified ultrasound protocol for the exclusion of clinically significant carotid artery stenosis for screening purposes. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 9,493 carotid arteries in 4,748 persons underwent carotid ultrasound examination. Most subjects were 65-year-old men attending screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm. The presence of a stenosis on B-mode and/or a m...

We prospectively studied the results of carotid angiography in 45 patients with transient or nondisabling neurologic deficits caused by lacunar infarction in the internal capsule or corona radiata and demonstrated by computed tomography. An ipsilateral stenosis at the bifurcation of the internal carotid artery was found in 14 patients (31%, 95% confidence limits 18-47%), seven of whom also had ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The validity of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) for asymptomatic carotid stenosis has been questioned recently due to the increasing effectiveness of medical management. In this study, we evaluated how contemporary outcomes of CEA for asymptomatic carotid stenosis compare with published stroke rates for best medical management. METHODS We identified all patients who underw...

BACKGROUND In the past decade, there has been an increase in the amount of patients with medical co-morbidities referred for coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG). Significant carotid artery disease in patients undergoing CABG procedures increases the risk of neurological complications. We review the results of routine carotid screening in patients undergoing CABG to determine the contemporary ...

PURPOSE Accurate calculation of the percentage of stenosis is crucial for identifying candidates for endarterectomy. Our goal was to quantify the reduction in diameter of the distal internal carotid artery (ICA) as a function of proximal ICA stenosis and to discuss the implications of distal ICA narrowing on the calculation of percentage of stenosis using the criteria of the North American Symp...

We compared carotid artery disease in 99 black and 106 white patients using duplex ultrasonography (B-mode imaging and Doppler spectral analysis). Blacks had significantly less stenosis of the extracranial internal carotid artery than whites. Among the risk factors investigated, hypertension alone, ischemic heart disease, diabetes mellitus, and smoking failed to explain the racial difference. A...