Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging
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Multicenter Study
Carotid plaque surface echogenicity predicts cerebrovascular events: An Echographic Multicentric Swiss Study.
To determine the prognostic value for ischemic stroke or transitory ischemic attack (TIA) of plaque surface echogenicity alone or combined to degree of stenosis in a Swiss multicenter cohort METHODS: Patients with ≥60% asymptomatic or ≥50% symptomatic carotid stenosis were included. Grey-scale based colour mapping was obtained of the whole plaque and of its surface defined as the regions between the lumen and respectively 0-0.5, 0-1, 0-1.5, and 0-2 mm of the outer border of the plaque. Red, yellow and green colour represented low, intermediate or high echogenicity. Proportion of red color on surface (PRCS) reflecting low echogenictiy was considered alone or combined to degree of stenosis (Risk index, RI). ⋯ In this pilot study including patients with at least moderate degree of carotid stenosis, PRCS (0-0.5mm) alone or combined to degree of stenosis strongly predicted occurrence of subsequent cerebrovascular events.