Extracranial cerebral arterial atherosclerosis in Iranian patients suffering ischemic strokes

• Main Authors: Sayed Ali Mousavi, Majid Ghasemi, Tahereh Hoseini, Ali Mehrabi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2006-12-01
• Series: Journal of Research in Medical Sciences
• Online Access: http://journals.mui.ac.ir/jrms/article/view/567
• ISSN: 1735-1995; 1735-7136

BACKGROUND: To determine the distribution and severity of extracranial carotid arterial atherosclerosis in Iranian patients with ischemic stroke.
 METHODS: 328 patients with ischemic stroke were included in this study. Doppler ultrasound was used for evaluation of atherosclerosis in extracranial carotid arteries. The NASCET criteria were used to measure carotid stenosis.
 RESULTS: Ninety of 328 patients (27.4%) were found to have atherosclerotic plaques; 40 of these patients were women and 50 were men. Sixty-eight patients (20.7%) had artery stenosis <50%, 13 patients (3.95%) had 50-70 % artery stenosis and 6 (1.8%) had >70% artery stenosis.
 CONCLUSIONS: Extracranial atherosclerosis is not rare in Iranian patients with ischemic stroke, but most carotid artery lesions were plaques with <50% stenosis.
 KEY WORDS: Atherosclerosis, ischemic stroke, carotid stenosis.