Determination of duplex Doppler ultrasound criteria appropriate to the North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial.
OBJECTIVE
The North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trail (NASCET) demonstrated the benefit of carotid endarterectomy for symptomatic patients with > or = 70% carotid stenosis. Screening for detection of significant carotid occlusive disease has relied on duplex Doppler imaging. However, traditional duplex categories (50% to 79%, 80% to 99%) are not directly applicable to NASCET. We sought to evaluate duplex criteria for determination of > or = 70% carotid stenosis.


METHODS
Duplex scan and arteriograms of 110 patients (210 carotids), performed within 1 month of each other, were reviewed by blinded readers. Arteriographic stenosis was determined by the NASCET method. Duplex measurements of peak systolic and end-diastolic velocity (PSV, EDV) were recorded, and ratios of velocities in the internal and common carotid arteries (ICA, CCA) were calculated. Receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curves of sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (PPV, NPV), and accuracy were determined.


RESULTS
Interobserver agreement for measurement of arteriographic stenosis was "almost perfect" (kappa=0.86). The criteria chosen for detection of > or = 70% stenosis were PSVICA>210 cm/s (sensitivity, 94%; specificity, 77%; PPV, 68% NPV, 96% accuracy, 83%) EDVICA>70 cm/s (sensitivity, 92%; specificity, 60%; PPV, 73%; NPV, 86%; accuracy 77%), PSVica/PSVCCA >3.0 (sensitivity, 91%; specificity, 78%; PPV, 70%; NPV, 94%; accuracy, 83%), and EDVICA/EDVCCA>3.3 (sensitivity, 100%; specificity, 65%; PPV, 65% NPV, 100%; accuracy, 79%).


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that > or = 70% carotid stenosis can be reliably determined by duplex Doppler ultrasound. Individual vascular laboratories must validate their own results.
Carpenter
J P
JP
Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, USA.
Lexa
F J
FJ
Davis
J T
JT
D017536:Carotid Artery, Common; D002342:Carotid Artery, External; D002343:Carotid Artery, Internal; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D016894:Endarterectomy, Carotid; D006801:Humans; D015588:Observer Variation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler