PURPOSE Different in-plane resolutions have been used for carotid 3T MRI. We compared the reproducibility, as well as the within- and between reader variability of high and routinely used spatial resolution in scans of patients with atherosclerotic carotid artery disease. Since no consensus exists about the optimal segmentation method, we analysed all imaging data using two different segmentati...

background: carotid artery stenting is now used as an alternative to surgical endarterectomy. this study was done to assess the feasibility, safety, and immediate and late clinical outcomes in patients undergoing carotid stenting . methods: between july 2008 and december 2009, a total of 40 patients (20 male, mean age: 65 ± 11 years, 19 symptomatic, and 90% high risk for endarterectomy) underwe...

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency and characteristics of carotid artery stenosis in acute ischaemic stroke patients and to assess the significance of common risk factors for carotid stenosis in these patients. METHOD One hundred consecutive patients admitted with acute ischaemic stroke were included in the study. The relevant history, physical examination and laboratory investigations were...

Self-calcifying, self-replicating nanoparticles have been isolated from calcified human tissues. However, it is unclear if these nanoparticles participate in disease processes. Therefore, this study was designed to preliminarily test the hypothesis that human-derived nanoparticles are causal to arterial disease processes. One carotid artery of 3 kg male rabbits was denuded of endothelium; the c...

BACKGROUND Calcifications of atherosclerotic plaques represent a controversial issue as they either lead to the stabilization or rupture of the lesion. However, the cellular key players involved in the progression of the calcified plaques have not yet been described. The primary reason for this lacuna is that decalcification procedures impair protein and nucleic acids contained in the calcified...

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...

The carotid is a small mass of chemoreceptor's and sustentacular cells that detects changes in the composition of the arterial blood. The aim of the present study was to identify the size, color, location, blood and nerve supply of the carotid body in Makouei sheep. Fourteen heads of sheep from both sexes were collected from Urmia public slaughter-house. The exact situation and nerve supply of ...

OBJECTIVE Natriuretic peptide receptor-C (NPR-C/NPR-3) is a cell surface protein involved in vascular remodelling that is up-regulated in atherosclerosis. NPR-C expression has not been well characterized in human carotid artery occlusive lesions. We hypothesized that NPR-C expression correlates with intimal features of vulnerable atherosclerotic carotid artery plaque. METHODS To test this hyp...

Coronary atherosclerosis is frequently associated with calcification of arterial plaque. To understand the mechanisms responsible for the formation of atherosclerotic calcification, we examined human coronary arteries for the presence and extent of mineral. In sections stained specifically for mineral, staining was diffuse and present in all atherosclerotic plaques. Hydroxyapatite was not detec...