BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Atherosclerotic carotid plaque ulceration is considered a marker of previous plaque rupture and subsequent thromboembolism. It can be accurately detected with multidetector CTA. We hypothesized that atherosclerotic plaque ulceration is associated with nonlacunar ischemic stroke rather than lacunar stroke. METHODS Prospectively, 750 consecutive patients with transient is...

Background and Objectives:It has been reported that the common carotid artery (CCA) intima-media thickness (IMT) correlates to angiographically determined coronary artery stenosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between the carotid IMT and left main (LM) plaque using ultrasonography. Subjects and Methods:In fifty patients (mean age 59.6±9.9, males 35 (70%)) with coronary ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In vitro studies of atherosclerotic plaque fracture mechanics suggest that analysis of local variations in surface deformability may provide information on relative vulnerability to plaque fissuring or rupture. We investigated plaque surface deformations in patients with symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid artery disease using 4-dimensional ultrasonography and techniques...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Cigarette smoking is correlated with extracranial carotid artery plaque thickness. Our aim in the present study was to determine whether the level of prior cigarette use is a significant predictor of carotid artery plaque thickness when age, history of hypertension, and history of diabetes are controlled. METHODS We studied a continuous sample of 790 patients with a his...

BACKGROUND Autonomic dysfunction is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), however, the exact mechanism linking autonomic dysfunction to cardiovascular disease is not known. In this study we hypothesized that autonomic dysfunction increases inflammation, which subsequently accelerates atherosclerosis. The aim of the current study was to investigate the association between autonomic ton...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE To determine the relationship between ulceration, thrombus, and calcification of carotid artery atherosclerotic plaques and symptoms of ipsilateral or contralateral stroke. METHODS We compared microscopic plaque morphology from patients with and without stroke symptoms ipsilateral or contralateral to the plaque. Plaques were characterized for ulceration, thrombus, and c...

BACKGROUND Radiotherapy (RT) of the neck is commonly given to nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients for preventing cervical lymph node metastasis. However, neck RT may induce the development of carotid atherosclerosis. The mechanisms of radiation-induced carotid atherosclerosis are still unclear and no previous study has investigated the genetic involvement of radiation-induced carotid athero...

The extraction of multiple features from high-resolution ultrasound images of atherosclerotic carotid plaques, characterizing the plaque morphology and structure can be used for the classification and retrieval of similar plaques and the identification of individuals with asymptomatic carotid stenosis at risk of stroke. The objective of this work was to develop an automated image retrieval and ...