Role of Ultrasound in Diagnosis of Plaques in Carotid Arteries

Abstract

The study included one hundred patients who were referred to ultrasound clinic in department of Diagnostic Imaging at King Fahd Hospital. The study was conducted from May,1st, 2006 till December,31st, 2007. Patient`s age in the study, ranged between 13 and 91 years and 67 of them were males and 33 were females. Patients were referred to us mainly for syncopal attacks of different duration and some of them had history of infarction and several symptoms. Among 100 patients who were scanned ,during that period , 65 of them were found having carotid plaques of different degrees . The study showed confidently that ultrasound is one of the best modalities in diagnosis of plaques and can decide in majority of cases the need of the patient to endarterectomy, So it is important that patients should be scanned by ultrasound if there are any symptoms related to carotid stenotic disease (CSD) to obtain better prognosis and also follow up of patients, the research showed they are at risk should be given priority specially old patients and who suffer from hypertension, diabetis , obesity and high cholesterol level. In this research it was found that ultrasound is a good predictor as compared to other methods with no significant disadvantages .