BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Using 930 individuals connected in a single pedigree from an isolated population, participants of the Erasmus Rucphen Family (ERF) study, we investigated the heritability of carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), carotid intima media thickness (IMT), and carotid plaque score. METHODS PWV was measured between the carotid and femoral arteries as an indicator of aortic...

OBJECTIVE Neurologic complications during carotid artery stenting (CAS) are usually associated with distal embolic event. These embolic incident during CAS are highly associated with the carotid plaque instability. The current study was undertaken to identify the angiographic characteristics of carotid plaque vulnerability, which was represented as filling defect in the cerebral protection filt...

AIM In patients with carotid plaque, intraplaque hemorrhage arising from ruptured neovascular vessels within the neointima is an important cause of stroke. The expression of Vasohibin-1 (VASH1), a negative feedback regulator of angiogenesis, occurs in the microvessel endothelial cells of various solid tumors and the arterial wall. However, the roles of VASH1 in the pathogenesis of atherosclerot...

Carotid artery stenosis accounts for approximately 10% of ischemic strokes. Improved methods of diagnosis of cerebrovascular atherosclerosis would result in significant improvement in quality of life and major savings in health care costs. Imaging plays a critical role evaluating patients suspected of acute stroke. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI's) significant advantages over DUS in carotids i...

BACKGROUND Carotid plaque severity and morphology can affect cardiovascular prognosis. We evaluate both the importance of echographically assessed carotid artery plaque geometry and morphology as predictors of death in hospitalised cardiological patients. METHODS 541 hospitalised patients admitted in a cardiological division (age = 66 +/- 11 years, 411 men), have been studied through ultrasou...

BACKGROUND Shear Wave Elastography (SWE) imaging is a novel ultrasound technique for quantifying tissue elasticity. Studies have demonstrated that SWE is able to differentiate between diseased and normal tissue in a wide range clinical applications. However its applicability to atherosclerotic carotid disease has not been established. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and pote...

In patients with symptomatic coronary heart disease, skin cholesterol (SC) content is associated with the presence and extent of coronary artery disease; however, its relation to subclinical arterial disease in asymptomatic patients is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine the relations between SC and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in asymptomatic subjects across a wide ran...

AIMS. The aim of this study is to determine the extent of carotid atherosclerosis in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes in relation to the cumulative atherosclerosis risk factors using ultrasonography. METHODS. The presence of hypertension, dyslipidemia, and chronic kidney disease (CKD) was documented in 106 Chinese subjects with type 2 diabetes. Subjects with 0, 1, and ≥2 additional atheros...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Subclinical atherosclerotic plaque is an important marker of increased vascular risk. Identifying factors underlying the variability in burden of atherosclerotic carotid plaque unexplained by traditional vascular risk factors may help target novel preventive strategies. METHODS As a part of the carotid substudy of the Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS), 1790 stroke-free i...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Automatically identifying carotid plaque composition using MR imaging remains a challenging task in vivo. The purpose of our study was to compare the detection and quantification of carotid artery atherosclerotic plaque components based on in vivo MR imaging data using manual and automated segmentation. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty patients from a multicenter study were ...