Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 7, Issue 2 73-76, Copyright © 1988 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
The identification of ulcerative plaque with high resolution duplex carotid scanning
E. I. Bluth, L. V. McVay 3rd, C. R. Merritt and M. A. Sullivan
Department of Radiology, Ochsner Clinic, New Orleans, Louisiana 70121.
A retrospective study evaluated 50 patients who had pathologically proven
intraplaque hemorrhage. The patients were pathologically divided into two
groups by the presence or absence of intimal ulcerations. These two groups
were then sonographically compared with regard to surface characteristics
of the plaque, plaque size, size of the sonolucent area within the plaque,
and location of the sonolucent area relative to the intimal surface. No
defined sonographic characteristics could be used to separate these two
groups of patients with heterogeneous plaques into those who had or did not
have ulcerations. Most importantly, merely sonographically evaluating the
surface of the plaque to determine if it was smooth or irregular could not
be used as a successful means to identify which patients were at risk for
ulceration.
