BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Carotid artery plaque types can be categorized with CT according to their HU values. The purpose of this work was to analyze carotid artery plaque characteristics by using multienergy imaging. METHODS AND MATERIALS Thirty-two consecutive patients (23 men; median age, 70 years) were retrospectively analyzed. Carotid arteries were studied with a multienergy CT scanner. Al...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Calcification has been associated with carotid plaque stability; however, an acceptable in vivo method to define plaques based on this component remains to be developed. The purpose of our study was to compare calcified and noncalcified volumes of carotid artery culprit symptomatic plaques with asymptomatic plaques using multidetector computed tomography. METHODS We ide...

OBJECTIVE Carotid plaque and intima-media thickness are non-invasive arterial markers that are used as surrogate end points for cardiovascular disease. The aim was to assess the prevalence and severity of carotid plaque, and examine its determinant risk factors and their association to the common carotid artery intima-media thickness (CCA-IMT) in a general population. METHODS We examined 6524...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE There is little information on the distribution of atherosclerotic lesions of the extracranial carotid artery wall in free-living populations. The purpose of the present study was to describe the prevalence from 1987 through 1989 of extracranial carotid artery plaque and plaque with acoustic attenuation (shadowing) lesions in a general population of white and black adults...

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes are established risk factors for atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the atherosclerotic plaque burden in the carotid arteries of patients with acute coronary syndrome according to their glycemic status. METHODS Patients with acute coronary syndrome and no previous history of type 2 diabetes were consecutively included in the study...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The goal of this study was to determine the efficacy of CT angiography for the characterization of plaque morphology and composition in carotid atherosclerotic disease. METHODS Fifty-five patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy were imaged preoperatively with single-slice spiral CT angiography. One hundred sixty-five endarterectomy sections were examined histological...

Background: Lichen planus is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with an increased risk of subclinical atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to evaluate patients with lichen planus using carotid Doppler ultrasound parameters.Methods: Forty patients with lichen planus and 40 controls were included in this study. Common carotid...

BACKGROUND Magnetic resonance imaging of carotid plaque can aid in stroke risk stratification in patients with carotid stenosis. However, the prevalence of complicated carotid plaque in patients with cryptogenic stroke is uncertain, especially as assessed by plaque imaging techniques routinely included in acute stroke magnetic resonance imaging protocols. We assessed whether the magnetic resona...

There is a strong correlation between macrophage infiltration and plaque instability in recently symptomatic carotid atherosclerotic plaques, and it is hypothesised that mechanisms related to macrophages may be involved in plaque vulnerability and rupture. We previously found high expression of urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (UPAR) in human macrophages. The aim of this study was ...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to examine the association between serum level of chemerin with AIS and carotid artery atherosclerosis, and to investigate the level of chemerin as a potential novel cerebrovascular risk factor. MATERIAL AND METHODS We compared the serum chemerin levels and cerebrovascular parameters between 70 AIS patients and 70 non-AIS subjects in a Chinese population. ...