This is probably the only thing that might have been able to prevent my stroke and that would have only been possible if my Dads doctor had told him to have any kids checked for this after his 85% occlusion.
Catalano C, Wintermark M; Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (Aug 2013)
Atherosclerosis
involving the carotid arteries has a high prevalence in the population
worldwide. This condition is significant because accidents of the
carotid artery plaque are associated with the development of
cerebrovascular events. For this reason, carotid atherosclerotic disease
needs to be diagnosed and those determinants that are associated to an
increased risk of stroke need to be identified. The degree of stenosis
typically has been considered the parameter of choice to determine the
therapeutical approach, but several recently published investigations
have demonstrated that the degree of luminal stenosis is only an
indirect indicator of the atherosclerotic process and that direct
assessment of the plaque structure and composition may be key to predict
the development of future cerebrovascular ischemic events. The concept
of'vulnerable plaque'was born, referring to those plaque's parameters
that concur to the instability of the plaque making it more prone to the
rupture and distal embolization. The purpose of this review is to
describe the imaging characteristics of'vulnerable carotid plaques.'
No comments:
Post a Comment