<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Atherosclerosis is a systemic disease that most often affects the carotid arteries. Being usually asymptomatic in its early stages, it is diagnosed only in advanced stages, when treatment is more difficult and prognosis is poor. Carotid ultrasound (US) is the most commonly used method for diagnosing carotid artery disease and represents a proper method for screening in patients with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors. This paper shows the methodology and necessity of carotid imaging methods in patients at high risk of developing atherosclerotic lesions. We also review the findings that underline the need of carotid screening in patients with ischemic heart disease or with ischemic arteriopathy, showing that the carotid arteries are like ‘mirrors’ of the arterial system, which need to be assessed in every patient with CV risk factors, regardless of the presence or absence of symptoms.</p></abstract>

Atherosclerosis is a systemic disease that most often affects the carotid arteries. Being usually asymptomatic in its early stages, it is diagnosed only in advanced stages, when treatment is more difficult and prognosis is poor. Carotid ultrasound (US) is the most commonly used method for diagnosing carotid artery disease and represents a proper method for screening in patients with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors. This paper shows the methodology and necessity of carotid imaging methods in patients at high risk of developing atherosclerotic lesions. We also review the findings that underline the need of carotid screening in patients with ischemic heart disease or with ischemic arteriopathy, showing that the carotid arteries are like ‘mirrors’ of the arterial system, which need to be assessed in every patient with CV risk factors, regardless of the presence or absence of symptoms.

The Role of Carotid Ultrasonography in Patients with High Risk of Atherosclerosis

Center of Advanced Research in Multimodality Cardiac Imaging, Cardio Med Medical Center

Journal of Interdisciplinary Medicine

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Atherosclerosis is a systemic disease that most often affects the carotid arteries. Being usually asymptomatic in its early stages, it is diagnosed only in...

The Role of Carotid Ultrasonography in Patients with High Risk of Atherosclerosis

Published Online: Jan 31, 2019

Page range: 229 - 233

Received: Aug 06, 2018

Accepted: Sep 04, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jim-2018-0029

Keywords
carotid ultrasonography, carotid artery, imaging methods, atherosclerosis, ischemic heart disease

© 2018 Balázs Oltean-Péter et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Role of Carotid Ultrasonography in Patients with High Risk of Atherosclerosis

Published Online: Jan 31, 2019

Page range: 229 - 233

Received: Aug 06, 2018

Accepted: Sep 04, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jim-2018-0029

Keywordscarotid ultrasonography, carotid artery, imaging methods, atherosclerosis, ischemic heart disease

© 2018 Balázs Oltean-Péter et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
carotid ultrasonography, carotid artery, imaging methods, atherosclerosis, ischemic heart disease