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PMID: 19091171 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Review

Carotid plaque compared with intima-media thickness as a predictor of coronary and cerebrovascular disease.

Current cardiology reports ·Vol. 11 ·No. 1 ·2009-01-00 ·Pages 21-7

Johnsen SH, Mathiesen EB

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is the underlying cause of most myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemic strokes. B-mode ultrasound of carotid arteries provides measures of intima-media thickness (IMT) and plaques, both widely used as surrogate measures of cardiovascular disease. Although IMT and plaques are highly intercorrelated, IMT's role as a marker of atherosclerosis has been questioned, especially when measurements include the common carotid artery (CCA) only. Plaque and intima-media thickening may reflect different biological aspects of atherogenesis with distinctive relations to clinical vascular disease. Plaque measured in the carotid bulb or internal carotid artery is stronger related to hyperlipidemia and smoking and is a stronger predictor for MI, whereas CCA-IMT is stronger related to hypertension and ischemic stroke. Echolucent plaque morphology (ie, lipid-rich plaques) seems to increase the risk for MI and stroke. New evidence suggests that total plaque area is the most strongly predictive of cardiovascular risk of the ultrasound phenotypes.

MeSH Terms
Carotid Stenosis/diagnostic imaging,pathology Coronary Artery Disease/etiology Humans Risk Factors Stroke/etiology Tunica Intima/diagnostic imaging,pathology Tunica Media/diagnostic imaging,pathology Ultrasonography
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Johnsen Stein Harald
Department of Neurology, University Hospital North Norway, N-9038 Breivika, Tromsø, Norway. [email protected]
Mathiesen Ellisiv B
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Article Info
Journal
Current cardiology reports
Abbr.
Curr Cardiol Rep
ISSN
1534-3170
DOI
10.1007/s11886-009-0004-1
Email
[email protected]
Published
2009-01-00
Pages
21-7
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
100888969
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1007/s11886-009-0004-1 View journal details
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