Key result
Emerging ultrasound applications, including point shear wave elastography, contrast-enhanced ultrasound, and microvascular ultrasound imaging, demonstrate efficacy in characterizing vulnerable carotid plaques.
Why the study?
Nonconventional ultrasound applications may help address the challenge of reliably differentiating vulnerable from nonvulnerable carotid atherosclerotic plaques to guide risk stratification and management.
Do emerging ultrasound applications (pSWE, CEUS, MUI) reliably characterize vulnerable carotid plaques in patients with carotid atherosclerosis?
Do emerging ultrasound applications (pSWE, CEUS, MUI) reliably characterize vulnerable carotid plaques in patients with carotid atherosclerosis?
Emerging ultrasound techniques like pSWE, CEUS, and MUI enhance the noninvasive identification of vulnerable carotid plaques, potentially improving risk stratification for cerebral ischemic events.
May aid noninvasive plaque assessment in research settings; hypothesis-generating and should not yet change clinical practice.
The emergence and integration of nonconventional ultrasound applications into the vascular diagnostic armamentarium offers the opportunity for answering a long-standing question about the morphological makeup of focal carotid atherosclerotic lesions, that is, is this particular plaque vulnerable or not? Vulnerable lesions are those which, based on their histological and morphological features, predispose a patient to an increased risk of a cerebral ischemic event (CIE) secondary to plaque or thrombus embolization. The ability to reliably differentiate plaque types using readily available noninvasive imaging methods facilitates risk stratification in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. Improved identification of at-risk lesions makes more targeted patient management and/or interventional decisions possible. Three emerging ultrasound applications that have demonstrated efficacy in offering this enhanced diagnostic capability are point shear wave elastography (pSWE), contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), and microvascular ultrasound imaging (MUI).
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Jim Baun (2025) conducted a review in Vulnerable carotid plaques. Emerging ultrasound applications (pSWE, CEUS, and MUI) was evaluated. Emerging ultrasound applications, including point shear wave elastography, contrast-enhanced ultrasound, and microvascular ultrasound imaging, demonstrate efficacy in characterizing vulnerable carotid plaques.
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