Extracranial internal carotid artery calcium volume measurement using computer tomography.

Background: The extent of calcium volume in the carotid arteries of contrast-based computer tomography (CT) is a valuable indicator of stroke risk. This study presents an automated, simple and fast calcium volume computation system. Since the high contrast agent can sometimes obscure the presence of calcium in the CT slices, it is therefore necessary to identify these slices before the corrected volume can be estimated.

White Matter Diffusion Abnormalities in Carotid Artery Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background & Purpose: Abnormalities in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), fractional anisotropy (FA), and mean diffusivity (MD) values can be used to assess microstructural damage to white matter tracts and could represent a quantitative marker of chronic ischemia and thereby potentially serve as a stroke risk factor or a measure of existing subclinical ischemic disease burden. We performed a systematic review and 3 separate meta-analyses to evaluate the association between unilateral carotid steno-occlusion and ipsilateral ADC, FA, or MD abnormality.

Materials & Methods: A comprehensive literature search evaluating the association of carotid disease and quantitative white matter diffusion imaging was performed.

Detection of Symptomatic Carotid Plaque Using Source Data from MR and CT Angiography: A Correlative Study.

Background: Carotid plaque MRI has been a useful method to characterize vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque elements. Recent investigations have suggested that source images from CT angiography (CTA) and MR angiography (MRA) can identify the simple high-risk features of symptom-producing carotid artery plaque. We studied the correlation and relative diagnostic accuracies of CTA and MRA source images in detecting symptomatic carotid artery plaque.

Plaque echolucency and stroke risk in asymptomatic carotid stenosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background And Purpose: Ultrasonographic plaque echolucency has been studied as a stroke risk marker in carotid atherosclerotic disease. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize the association between ultrasound-determined carotid plaque echolucency and future ipsilateral stroke risk.

Methods: We searched the medical literature for studies evaluating the association between carotid plaque echolucency and future stroke in asymptomatic patients.