Why the study?
Carotid artery disease causes ischemic stroke and cognitive decline, making prompt assessment of plaque morphology and stenosis crucial for diagnosis and patient management.
This review outlines the fundamental characteristics of carotid artery plaques and how they can be best evaluated with currently available imaging methods to guide management.
May guide carotid plaque imaging selection; extends synthesis but leaves open prospective validation of protocols.
Carotid artery disease is a cause of ischemic stroke and is associated with cognitive decline. Besides the evaluation of the degree of stenosis, it is also crucial to assess the morphology of the atherosclerotic plaque, for a prompt and accurate diagnosis, and to make the best decision for the patient. On top of noninvasive duplex ultrasound (DUS) and invasive digital subtraction angiography (DSA), compute tomography angiography (CTA) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) are often used effectively as noninvasive imaging tools to study carotid stenoses. This review describes the fundamental characteristics of carotid artery plaques, and how they can be best evaluated with currently available imaging methods.
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Giordano et al. (2022) studied this question.
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