Prevalence of severe internal carotid artery disease in hypertensive elderly patients.
Doppler-shifted ultrasound was used as a non-invasive test to determine the presence of severe (pressure dropping) internal carotid lesions in two groups of elderly patients. Group 1 consisted of 150 hypertensive patients; these were subdivided into 77 who had had no cerebrovascular incidents (mean age 75 years, range 65-97) and 73 who had previously suffered a stroke (mean age 75 years, range 65-91). Group 2 consisted of 44 normotensive asymptomatic elderly volunteers (mean age 76 years, range 68-90). In the hypertensive patients (group 1), severe disease was detected in the non-stroke patients in 15 (10%) of the internal carotid arteries (14% of the patients), and in the stroke patients in 23 (16%) of the internal carotid arteries (23% of the patients). None of the normotensive volunteers (group 2) had evidence of severe internal carotid disease. Statistical analysis confirmed a highly significant difference in the prevalence of severe carotid disease between the normotensive and hypertensive subjects. The difference between the non-stroke and stroke hypertensive patients was not statistically significant.
Lewis
R R
RR
Department of Geriatric and General Medicine, Guy's Hospital, London, UK.
Padayachee
T S
TS
Ariyanayagam
R P
RP
Gosling
R G
RG
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002343:Carotid Artery, Internal; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D014463:Ultrasonography