Evaluation of Carotid Artery Stenosis in Stroke/Transient Ischaemic Attack

BACKGROUND: Stroke remains the second leading cause of death worldwide, after ischaemic heart disease. Patients with carotid artery stenosis are at higher risk of development of stroke. Carotid atherosclerosis occurs in patients with atherosclerotic risk factors like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, smoking and hyperlipidemia. Carotid artery stenosis can be assessed by means of noninvasive high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography of the carotid arteries. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1). To estimate the prevalence of carotid artery stenosis in ischaemic stroke/transient ishaemic attack patients. 2). To estimate whether there was any association between carotid artery stenosis and important risk factors such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyper lipidemia with control group. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Acute ischaemic/TIA stroke patients with CT-Brain showing infarcts were enrolled for the study. All patients were subjected to CT scan brain study and colour Doppler study of extracranial carotid arteries. The systolic and diastolic velocity of blood flow, and the ratio of peak systolic velocities of common carotid arteries were assessed. RESULTS: DM, HTN, Smoking & Hyperlipidemia acted as risk factors for carotid stenosis. The prevalence of carotid stenosis in our study was 60%. The prevalence of mild, moderate and severe stenosis were 34%, 10% and 16% respectively. The distribution of carotid stenosis was equal on both sides. The statistical significance was calculated using Chi-square test. Statistical significance was taken when P value was <0.05. Statistical analysis was carried using standard formulae. Microsoft Excel 2007 and SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) Version 17.0 software were used for data entry and analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Carotid stenosis was one of the common causes of ischaemic stroke. There was a statistically significant correlation between increasing age, male gender, smoking, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hyperlipidemia and the prevalence of carotid stenosis.