TY - JOUR
TI - Assessment of the vulnerable carotid atherosclerotic plaque using
contrast-enhanced ultrasonography
AU - Filis, Konstantinos
AU - Toufektzian, Levon
AU - Galyfos, George and
AU - Sigala, Fragiska
AU - Kourkoveli, Panagiota
AU - Georgopoulos, Sotirios
AU - and Vavuranakis, Manolis
AU - Vrachatis, Dimitrios
AU - Zografos, George
JO - Vascular Specialist International
PY - 2017
VL - 25
TODO - 3
SP - 316-325
PB - SAGE Publications Ltd
SN - null
TODO - 10.1177/1708538116665734
TODO - Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography; carotid atherosclerosis; plaque
vulnerability; neovascularization
TODO - Carotid atherosclerosis represents a primary cause for cerebrovascular
ischemic events and its contemporary management includes surgical
revascularization for moderate to severe symptomatic stenoses. However,
the role of invasive therapy seems to be questioned lately for
asymptomatic cases. Numerous reports have suggested that the presence of
neovessels within the atherosclerotic plaque remains a significant
vulnerability factor and over the last decade imaging modalities have
been used to identify intraplaque neovascularization in an attempt to
risk-stratify patients and offer management guidance. Contrast-enhanced
ultrasonography of the carotid artery is a relatively novel diagnostic
tool that exploits resonated ultrasound waves from circulating
microbubbles. This property permits vascular visualization by producing
superior angiography-like images, and allows the identification of vasa
vasorum and intraplaque microvessels. Moreover, plaque
neovascularization has been associated with plaque vulnerability and
ischemic symptoms lately as well. At the same time, attempts have been
made to quantify contrast-enhanced ultrasonography signal using
sophisticated software packages and algorithms, and to correlate it with
intraplaque microvascular density. The aim of this review was to collect
all recent data on the characteristics, performance, and prognostic role
of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography regarding carotid stenosis
management, and to produce useful conclusions for clinical practice.
ER -