Color doppler assessment of extra cranial carotid arteries in carotid artery disease with correlation of risk factors in predicting cerebro vascular accident in patients with carotid atheromatous disease

ABSTRACT

Background: Stroke is a clinical syndrome, which describes a sudden neurological deficit of presumed vascular origin. The risk factors for stroke are diabetes mellitus, smoking, alcohol and hypertension. Colour doppler ultrasound is one of the important tool for the evaluation of exracranial insufficiency of the carotid arteries. This study was performed to assess the carotid arteries with the help of color doppler in carotid artery disease.Methods: Of the 100 patients who had come to our department during the study period with symptoms of cerebrovascular disease such as transient episodes of neurological dysfunction, sudden weakness or numbness, hemiparesis, focal neurological deficits, sudden loss of consciousness, altered sensorium, aphasia, slurring of speech, diminution or loss of vision were included into the study. CT scan of brain and color doppler evaluation for the extracranial carotid arteries was done for all the patients to assess the atheromatous disease of extracranial carotid arteries and comparison with brain changes in cerebrovascular disease patients.Results: Of the 100 patients included into the study, 51% were males and 49% were females. 59% of the patients were above 61 years of age, 24% of them were between 51-60 years and 12% were between 41-50 years. 82% of the patients had the presence of atherosclerotic plaque while 18% had increased intima-media thickness without the plaque. Among the patients with atherosclerotic plaque, 63.4% had diabetes and 68.3% had hypertension. <50% stenosis was seen among 45.1% of the patients while 36.6% had between 50-70%. Near total occlusion was seen in 6.1% of the patients.Conclusions: The color Doppler sonography is a useful tool in evaluation of extra cranial course of carotid vessels. It is a non-invasive, cheap, faster modality without any side effects. Therefore, it could be used in predicting CVA in patients with carotid atheromatous disease.